


Red Sky at Morn

by Genieinashoe



Series: Through the Mist [1]
Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan, The Trials of Apollo - Rick Riordan
Genre: Action/Adventure, Angst, Gen, Mystery, Original Character(s), Quests, idk what im doing sorry, kind of canon character death but not really lol
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-09
Updated: 2017-08-13
Packaged: 2018-11-29 16:50:42
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 22,673
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11445021
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Genieinashoe/pseuds/Genieinashoe
Summary: Percy Jackson saved the world for the first time when he was twelve. When Alexandra Blofis was twelve, she wore braces and broke her ankle at a gymnastics competition. At sixteen, she still wears braces, but now she's suddenly expected to save the world. Percy had done that, like, five times by the time he was her age, so it can't be that hard.Or: Lex sees things no one else sees, her little brother sees nothing at all, and now she has to rescue her dead demigod brother in order to save the world.





	1. Bet You Thought You'd Seen the Last of Sassy Chapter Titles

**Author's Note:**

> Most characters in this story are property of Rick Riordan but anyone unfamiliar is of my own creation.
> 
> also idk what this is but i have 20k+ words so there's no going back now lol

One of my earliest memories goes a little something like this:

"Lex, aren't you sleepy? Look at that comfortable bed!"

"No sleep!"

I was three, almost four years old, and boy was I a horrible child.

Annabeth sighed for what must have been the hundredth time in thirty minutes. "Why not?" she asked the me. "You missed your nap today. You've _got_ to be tired by now."

I shook my head, crossed my arms, and stuck my hip out. With a pout and quirked eyebrow, toddler-Lex was more like a sassy teenager.

"I wanna see Izzy!" I declared.

Annabeth laughed lightly. "You will tomorrow. Mommy and Daddy are making sure he's ready to see you."

"Wanna see _now_ ," I insisted vehemently.

That was the night my brother was born, actually, and Annabeth was babysitting while my parents were at the hospital.

It might have been sweet from an outsider's prospective for one of my first memories to be of my brother's birth, but it was a significant memory in other ways, too, since it was also the first time Annabeth really opened up to me about Percy Jackson, the brother I never really knew.

"We can't see them right now, Lex," Annabeth said patiently. "The quicker you go to sleep, the quicker we can see them."

I mulled the words over for a moment before nodding, not even questioning how Annabeth's explanation was possible. "Good idea," I agreed sagely, throwing my arms up toward Annabeth.

Obligingly, Annabeth scooped me into her arms and carried me to my room. Details on exact words are fuzzy here, but I remember babbling on and on about seeing my new baby brother, and my spout of words continued still as Annabeth pulled the covers up over me.

In hindsight, it had been a long day for us. Receiving a phone call at two in the morning had probably not been Annabeth's ideal start to a Saturday, but she had agreed to babysit me months in advance when my parents had announced they were expecting another baby. That had been back in the spring, when times had been happier, and before Percy had disappeared.

I didn't notice until I was much older, but it was hard for Annabeth, being in our home when he wasn't. She would often look a little dazed, and she could never quite look up all the way for fear of catching sight of one of the pictures all throughout the house that contained his smiling face.

Being around me was even a bit difficult. Ever since Percy had gone missing, I had become harder and harder to handle. I didn't want to listen to what my parents had to say, and I certainly didn't want to be taking orders or directions from Annabeth.

"There we go!" Annabeth said cheerily, brushing my frizzy brown curls off my forehead. "And tomorrow morning we get to go see Izzy!"

I frowned up at her, eyes suddenly sad as I remembered my other brother. "But what if he leaves, too?" I whispered timidly. "I need ta make sure he doesn't leave."

Looking back, that had been an awful thing to ask. Annabeth's smile wobbled, just slightly, at the mention of her missing boyfriend, but she did her best to recover. Her smile didn't quite reach her expressive eyes. She didn't want to upset me.

"He would never leave you," she promised.

"How do you know?" I had demanded. "Percy left. What if Izzy leaves too?"

It was unlikely, really. Izzy and I were both fully mortal children, and Percy had been the demigod son of Poseidon involved in two major prophecies (not that I had known that at the time to be true, but whatever). Percy had never known normalcy, and even though I could see things, scary things like snake ladies and giant dogs and monstrous beings, it was unlikely that Izzy and would ever be threatened by monsters or gods or perilous quests.

Izzy and I were going to be safe, and since Percy wasn't around to make sure we would be okay, Annabeth felt obligated to take on his job. She would babysit whenever my parents needed, and Piper had Hazel took turns with her when it came to babysitting. In fact, Piper would be coming by following morning to relieve Annabeth of her duties.

So long as Percy's friends were around, Izzy and I weren't going anywhere.

"He won't," Annabeth said vehemently. "Because you're going to be the best big sister ever and protect him, right?"

I nodded slowly. "Right," I said determinedly. "I'll protect Izzy."

Annabeth smiled tightly, and flicked out the lamp on the nightstand. "You know where to find me if you need anything, okay?" she murmured. "Goodnight, Lex."

Suddenly tired, I nodded sluggishly. "Night, Am-beth," I mumbled, snuggling under my covers.

That night, I dreamed of the night Percy disappeared.

It was the same dream that would haunt me periodically throughout my life, coming back once it had nearly been forgotten every couple of months or so.

I don't remember how vivid the dream that night had been, but I remember waking up from it and feeling like I was in danger. I screamed and sobbed and wailed, terrified of what the darkness of night hid from view.

It wasn't long before Annabeth was rushing into my room and flicking on the lamp to find me squished into the very corner of my bed, blankets thrown over my shaking body. I hiccuped as Annabeth sat on the bed next to me, but didn't protest as I was drawn onto the older girl's lap.

"Sh, Lex," Annabeth cooed soothingly. "I'm right here."

It didn't matter, though, because Annabeth wasn't the person I wanted to calm me down right then. I coughed, head still hidden under the blankets.

"I want Percy!" I wailed, my cries becoming louder.

Annabeth grimaced, rubbing her hand on my back. "Me too," she admitted quietly, her voice vulnerable. "I miss him too, Lex, but I know he wouldn't want you to be sad. He always chased away all the monsters, didn't he?"

"But then they got him!" I cried. "The monsters got him, and they came to get me, too!"

"Oh, Lex," Annabeth breathed. "They won't ever get you."

"Percy isn't here to protect me, though," I gasped out, still shaking. At this point, I was calming down slightly, and my head was even out from under the blankets now. I looked up at Annabeth with watery eyes, bottom lip trembling precariously like I was about to start crying again.

"But I am," Annabeth said. "And you remember Nico, right? And Thalia, and Piper, and Jason—all of Percy's friends. We'll be here to protect you."

My breathing finally evened out a little. "Promise?"

"I promise," Annabeth said. It was one of many promises to be made to me over the years, but this first one was the most vivid of them all. "And Percy will be back. You'll see."

I wish she hadn't been lying, but at the time, I believed resolutely in her words, so I nodded slowly.

"Story?" I asked sleepily after a moment.

"Of course," Annabeth said, and then launched into the first quest she and Percy and Grover had ever been on.

It was the most Annabeth had said to me in months. I did my best to pay attention, but by the time Annabeth got to the part about their face off with Medusa, I had already fallen asleep once more.

When I woke the next morning, it was to Piper's smiling face, and Annabeth's tired goodbye. I saw her later when I was taken to visit Izzy, but that isn't the point of this story.

Annabeth would tell me many more stories over the next few years. Whenever she babysat, she would spend countless hours talking about all the events leading up to the Titan War, and even the events after that had led to teaming up with Camp Jupiter. She talked about Apollo, and his quest to restore his godly abilities, and she talked about how excited Percy had been to have a little sister. She talked about everything up until he went missing, but I'd been there. I didn't need to hear a story about the worst day of my life.

I lived for these stories until I was about eleven, when it occurred to me that the stories were a made-up way for her and my mom to cope with his absence. My little brother, Izzy, continued to believe the stories, but I knew it was only a matter of time before he would also be too old for tales of giants and monsters and quests.

I didn't know what had really happened to Percy, and all Annabeth and my mom had ever said on the topic of his whereabouts was that he was "gone." I could only assume they meant dead but were too traumatized to say so. The hesitant explanations and stories were simply a way for them to cope.

For years, I didn't know a lot about my mother's first child. He was a sad whisper on muggy August nights, or the reason I wasn't allowed to venture too far from my parents for long periods of time. Whatever had happened to Percy had doomed me to a life of my parents flying over me like helicopters, afraid that something would also happen to me.

Looking back now on how protective they were before my life became such a big mess, maybe they weren't so paranoid after all.

Despite my distinct lack of godly blood, I somehow managed to find my way into troubling situations.

I wasn't a trouble maker on purpose, of course. I was the kind of kid that stumbled into interesting situations because I saw too much. The things I saw weren't exactly normal, either, so for the longest time, I thought I was legitimately crazy. Like, full-blown, mentally-ill-psychotic kind of crazy.

The things I saw freaked me out to the point that I had even begged my parents to take me to some kind of specialist, because no kid should be able to see monsters or kids randomly whipping out weapons like I often did, but she assured me that nothing was wrong with me.

It wasn't until just recently that I realized exactly how right she was. It wasn't my mind playing tricks on me; it was the world _around_ me that was weird and strange.

* * *

Growing up, I was a relatively happy kid. My parents were the best people in the whole world, and they showered me and my brother with love and affection. They supported us in all that we wanted to do, like soccer or playing the guitar or drawing, regardless of how truly awful I was at everything.

Despite this happy upbringing, there was one dark cloud that hung over my parents like a constant hurricane.

They didn't talk about it often, but there had been another kid before me and my younger brother. Before she was Sally Blofis, my mom had been Sally Jackson, and she had raised a son named Percy on her own before she met my dad. My dad didn't like to talk about Percy, either, because it made my mom sad, but any mention of my deceased brother would send my mother into instant shut down mode.

I didn't know much about him other than the stupid, make-believe stories, but the last few weeks of my junior year of high school is when I began to realize just how true the stories were.

It was the end of May, and I couldn't be more excited. Summer was so close I could taste it, and I wanted nothing more than to relax and spend time with my friends.

That May was when things really went wrong.

Nothing could ruin my plans for the perfect summer. My parents were allowing me more and more freedom all the time, and I used it to my advantage. I would be a junior after the summer, so I was going to do my best to enjoy every moment I could before I had to buckle down and hit the books and impress colleges.

This summer would be the last one of full freedom, and there was one thing I wanted to do more than anything.

"Please, Mom?" I leaned over the counter, my eyes wide and pleading as I stared her down. "Just for one weekend is all I'm asking!"

My mom quirked a dark brow at me as she was stirring pancake batter. "What's with the sudden interest in going to the beach?"

"We haven't gone in _years_ ," I whined. "The last time we went to the beach was when Percy—"

"I know, and there's a reason for that," my mother said stiffly, setting the bowl of pancake batter onto the counter before turning away from me to fiddle with something else.

I recognized the clipped tone as the one she used when she was sad, or when something had reminded her of Percy. She didn't use it often, but when she did, it was nearly impossible to argue with her in any way. And since the beach had been something unique to Percy, and with the tone my mom was using, she didn't sound like she would budge on my request.

"Mom, _please_ ," I begged. "Just this one time, and I'll never ask to go to Montauk again, I promise."

Izzy poked his head into the kitchen, eyes wide and imploring. "We're going to the beach?" he asked excitedly.

My dad glanced over his shoulder at me from where he was cooking eggs at the stove, and when our eyes met, I knew he was on my side. "It can't hurt for one weekend, Sally," he said gently. "It _has_ been a really long time. I don't even think Izzy has ever been."

My mom stared at him dubiously, and for a brief moment, I realized just how tired she appeared to be. It was spring now, and the warmer the days became as summer approached brought about the worst parts of my mother. The warm seasons seemed to drain her, and she always looked much older than she actually was with dark bags under her eyes and frown lines around her mouth, which were especially bad during the summer months and August in particular. Dad once confided in me that Percy's birthday was in August, so I could understand why she felt so sad during that month especially.

"Please?" I begged one more time, clasping my hands together in front of me. Izzy bounced up to the counter beside me, and his puppy eyes in tandem with my pleas were bound to do the trick. I had learned long ago that even though I alone could not always convince her to do something, she had a large weakness for my brother's unseeing puppy eyes.

Mom sighed, closing her eyes very briefly. "Fine, we'll go. That means no getting into trouble, no—"

Izzy and I practically shrieked. "I won't!" I whooped gleefully, rushing around to grab her in a strong hug. "Thank you thank you _thank you_!"

My mom smiled wide, a rare thing for her to do. Her smiles were usually small and half-hidden, so it was good to see her smile so large.

Dad came up behind her and placed a hand on her shoulder as I pulled away. "We're trusting you to be responsible, Lexi," he said sternly. "I know it's a foreign concept for you, dear, but do try not to do anything reckless. If we go to the beach, that means no getting in trouble for the rest of the year."

"I promise," I agreed solemnly. "No trouble!"

Looking back now, I really had no idea just how much trouble I was actually about to get in.

* * *

That night, I dreamed of a storm.

It was the same dream I had been having at least once yearly for as long as I could remember, and daily for the last week or so. It was always the same in the beginning, though the ending seemed to change all the time.

It started out at Montauk with me huddled on the lumpy old couch as the windows creaked and rain pounded against the small cottage. The interior matched every picture I had ever seen of the place, which weren't very many to begin with, and I was completely alone and afraid.

I couldn't place a logical reason for my fear at the time, though. Storms didn't bother me in the slightest. It was what I knew came after that was scary.

I sat alone for a moment before a person came running into the room, and I instantly recognized him as the boy from the pictures in hidden photo albums, the ones that my mother didn't know I had found and seen before.

He was tall, with tanned skin, dark hair, and the greenest eyes I had ever seen. In swim trunks, a t-shirt, and hair full of sand, he looked like he practically lived on the beach. He approached me where I was sitting on the couch with a forced smile as he looked down, and it was only then that I realized just how small I was. I looked down at my hands, tiny and chubby like those of a young child.

"Come on, Lexi," Percy said, scooping me into his arms like he did every time I had this dream. "We have to get out of here."

"Why?" I asked, my voice small and squeaky as I clung to his t-shirt with a surprisingly iron-like grip for a child.

"The storm is getting bad," he said, draping a windbreaker over me like a blanket. There was a loud roar from just outside, but it was definitely not thunder. "We just need to get somewhere safer."

"Where are Mommy and Daddy?"

"They're on their way back from dinner," Percy murmured, walking quickly to the backdoor. "We're going to meet them somewhere."

We stepped outside just as lightning lit up the whole sky, revealing a dark mass that was definitely not clouds floating over the water.

Even though rain was falling down all around us, we weren't getting wet, which was something I had never been able to figure out about the dream. From there, Percy started a slow run down the beach, trying to keep me steady as we moved.

It was then that a voice rang out all around us, like someone speaking over an intercom. "It's too late to escape, Perseus Jackson," it always rumbled with the hoarse gravel of a person that smoked.

Monstrous roars echoed behind us, and Percy started running faster, throwing caution and care to wind to get away from whatever was pursuing us. I looked over his shoulder as I clung to him, and when the lightning flashed again, I saw that the pitch-black cloud had grown, and on the beach itself was a hoard of monstrous beings that looked like snakes and giants and all sorts of nasty things rumbling after us.

I began to cry, burying my face into Percy's shoulder.

"Sh, Lexi, it'll be okay," Percy yelled loudly over the noise of the storm, voice strained with slight panic.

After that part, things usually began to change. Sometimes we would run straight into the sea and disappear under the waves, finding safety beneath the water. Other times, the cloud would disappear and the sun would come out like there hadn't been a storm just a second before. Once, I had dreamed of the cloud turning into cotton candy and the monsters turning into unicorns. However weird they were, the endings usually involved our escape, like I was mentally trying to bring Percy back so my mom could be entirely happy again.

That night, however, I dreamed of an entirely different ending that would have made any person tremble with fear.

"Surrender yourself, and we will leave the child be," the voice from the sky rumbled. I peeked over Percy's shoulder at the black mass of cloud, eyes wide and imploring.

"Yeah, like I believe _that_!" Percy yelled, continuing his fast pace. He held me with one arm now, and he had a pen in his free hand. I didn't know how that would help in this situation unless he was going to write them a pop quiz on proper slaughtering techniques or something.

The monsters loomed closer and closer, no matter how fast we were going. All of a sudden, Percy stopped running, and I turned my head to look straight ahead at what had made him pause.

Before us stood even more monsters, and they were closing in on all sides. Percy uncapped his pen, and suddenly it was a sword, and I was very confused at this wild change of events.

He slowly turned as the monsters closed in, all of them sneering and wielding weapons and looking way too excited to rip into both of us.

"This is your last chance, Perseus Jackson," the loud voice growled out. "Surrender, or the child dies."

My toddler wails were louder than all the monsters around us, and Percy's arm tightened around me. He looked desperately to the ocean, scanning the horizon of water like help would suddenly appear and rescue us. I expected it, too, since we always escaped without fail.

No help was forthcoming this time, though.

"Not even Poseidon can help you now," the voice said with a croaky chuckle.

Percy stared up at the sky, his entire body tense. "How can I believe that she'll be left alone?" he asked eventually, voice hard.

"You have my word," the voice said.

"That means squat," Percy snapped. "I have _your_ word, but there are at least a hundred monsters that can't say the same."

"They obey me," the voice said, obviously impatient. "She will not be harmed. I swear this on the River Styx."

Thunder boomed loudly overhead, and lightning flashed once more, but this time it sounded different, and somehow I got the feeling that the promise was binding. With a slow nod, Percy set me on the sand, and my bare feet sunk into it. He draped the windbreaker over my head and zipped it up, and because it was so oversized, the only part of me showing was my face. I clung to Percy's shirt, not wanting to let go.

Percy knelt in front of me, grabbing my tiny hands in his. "Listen, Lexi," he murmured, voice serious. "I need you to sit right here for a minute, okay? Don't move until Mom comes to get you, promise?"

"Pinky," I agreed in a trembling voice, holding my hand out. He wrapped his pinky finger around my small one with a forced smile.

"Good girl," he said, hugging me tightly one last time. "I love you, Lexi."

"Love you too," I said, not knowing this would be the last time I saw him. "See soon?"

Percy's mouth pursed as he pulled away, worry etched into every feature of his face. "See you soon," he replied evenly.

I sat down in the sand and crossed my chubby legs. Without Percy's warm arms around me, I shivered under the thin material of the windbreaker as the wind and rain suddenly hit me full force. Percy backed away, still completely dry even as the water finally got to me.

I curled up into a tight ball, pulling my knees to my chest and hugging them. Everything around me became blurry, and the rain suddenly disappeared to reveal the starry night sky.

The hood of the windbreaker fell off of my head as I looked up. The black cloud was gone, as were all the monsters. There was no indication that they had even been there in the first place.

Laying innocently in the sand a few feet away was the gold pen Percy had been holding earlier.

I crawled over to it on my hands and knees and grabbed onto it, looking around once more like I expected Percy to suddenly return.

There was a loud splash from the water, and when I looked up, a man had suddenly stepped out of it. He looked a lot like Percy with his tan and dark hair and green eyes, with the only difference between the two being their age and this guy's beard. He held a trident, like the king from _The Little Mermaid_.

He looked all around, too, before his eyes focused in on me where I sat in the sand.

"Hello, little one," he said, his voice sad. He reached out toward me with a calming hand, and it was then that I awoke in my bed. I could see the still-dark sky from where I'd forgotten to close the blinds the night before. A beautiful white flower could be seen just outside the glass, one of the only things that had remained even after Percy's things had been packed away.

I glanced at my alarm, and it read 2:49 AM in blaring red letters. My thoughts were racing through my head, and I felt too jittery to simply roll over and go back to sleep.

Besides, whenever I had those weird dreams, I never ended up going back to sleep afterwards. I would just have to suffer the next morning, which sucked, since it was Sunday night and I had to be at school in a couple of hours.

I sat up with a groan, and looked down at my hands and body, which were all my normal size now. I then looked to my desk, which had the last family portrait the four of us had taken before Percy disappeared. I had just turned three, and Percy was probably twenty or so, and we were smiling with my parents behind us. Izzy hadn't even been born yet, and my mother didn't seem show any signs of being pregnant at the time the photo was taken.

I turned onto my stomach and propped my chin in my hands. "Where are you?" I whispered wonderingly, staring intently at Percy's smiling face. " _Who_ are you?"

As expected, I received no reply.


	2. The Last Normal Day of My Life

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lex has questions and not enough answers, and some things fall into place.

A boy named Nico taught me how to ride a bicycle.

He was tall and wiry and olive-toned, with shaggy black hair and dark eyes with circles under them. He wore dark clothes and a bomber jacket, and though he would look intimidating if you passed him on the street, I'm not sure he looked as intense as he ran down the sidewalk holding onto my sparkly pink handle bars.

Nico was tied with Annabeth as my favorite of Percy's friends. He didn't treat the subject of my brother like some kind of grenade about to explode, and he was always happy to answer my questions. His answers were often vague, but he offered me more information that my mom and Annabeth ever did, and I appreciated that more than I could ever put into words.

Learning to ride my bike was one of my most vivid memories. I had recently turned seven, and I was determined to lose the training wheels. Most of the other kids in my second grade class didn't have them anymore, and I didn't want them, either. It wasn't enough for my dad to take the training wheels off and offer to teach me; I wanted to be taught by Nico in particular. I don't remember my reasoning then, but he was super cool in my mind, so his teachings were _obviously_ better.

"Don't let go!" I shrieked, my knuckles white beside his as I gripped the handlebars tightly.

"I've got to let go at some point," he said with a quiet laugh. "You've got it, just keep going!"

"Noooo!"

Obligingly, Nico continued to run at my side. I don't remember how long it took for him to finally let go, but suddenly he wasn't running beside me, and I was pedaling down the street by myself. He yelled encouraging words behind me, and I cackled gleefully as I came to the end of the street and stopped.

Pedaling back was harder since I had to build up my own momentum, but Nico grinned down at me even as I made my wobbly way to him.

"I told you," Nico said, ruffling my sweaty hair as I climbed off the bike and tugged the bright pink helmet off my head. The helmet had stickers of a skull and racing flames as a gift from Nico before we had begun our lesson that day. "You did it, Squirt."

I shoved the helmet back on my head, grinning. "Thank you for teaching me!"

"Psh, you did all the work," Nico snorted, holding my bike as I climbed back onto it. "Now, I believe it's almost time for dinner. Lets head back."

"Okay," I said, and as we walked back, I struggled to keep my balance at a slower pace. Even though he insisted I knew what I was doing, Nico kept his hand on one of my handle bars, just in case.

"Did Percy know how to ride a bike?" I asked as we neared home.

Percy was a topic I never failed to bring up to Nico, simply because he was the only one to answer my questions so calmly and as honestly as he could.

In response to my random question, Nico shrugged. "Maybe. I never saw him ride a bike. It never came up."

"Oh," I said. "What kind of stuff did he do?"

"He knew how to swim really well," Nico revealed, and I eagerly clung to this new information. "He swam for the varsity team at his high school."

"Where did he go high school?" I asked.

"Your dad works there," Nico said. "Goode High School."

* * *

That Monday after I had that dream about Percy, I walked into Goode High School feeling like death. As I was getting ready for school earlier that morning, the jittery energy from the night before had faded, leaving my entire body feeling heavy with lack of sleep, and no amount of makeup could hide the dark circles under my eyes. I did pile on blush, though, in an attempt to not look like a ghost.

There were twenty minutes until classes were to start as I trudged to my locker, thermos of coffee in hand. I had almost gulped down the entire 20-ounce cup in less than thirty minutes, but I still felt dead tired. I was in no mood to talk to anyone that morning; I simply trudged along, not making eye contact with anyone as I reached my locker and began to fiddle with the lock.

Most people were smart and avoided me on days like that, when I was ready to destroy anyone who so much as looked at me wrong.

Blaise Tsang was not one of those smart people.

I was sluggishly pulling the books that I would need for my first two classes from the metal shelves. I set the thermos in my locker, leaning down to zip up my backpack before slinging it over my shoulder. I reached for the coffee, taking another sip and blinking blearily at the time on my phone.

I nearly jumped out of my skin when the locker door was slammed shut, the tanned hand resting on it obviously responsible for the jarring noise. My eyes followed the hand to the face of Blaise Tsang, a junior student.

Blaise was kind of scary and intimidating; her eyes were slanted and catlike, and she would have been much less intimidating if her short hair wasn't cut in choppy tendrils of black and blue around her face.

"What?" I grumbled out, still incoherent in my half-asleep state.

She grinned roguishly at me. "Aw, is that anyway to greet your favorite person?"

"Where? I don't see them," I said flatly.

Her grin remained in place. This verbal combat between the two of us was a game, and neither of us wanted to lose, which was probably why this bickering back and forth had been going on since she transferred to the school almost two years ago when I had started as a freshman.

Blaise and I claimed to be enemies, but really, she was the closest thing to a best friend that I was capable of having. Other kids were freaked out by the things I saw and dreamed of, but Blaise took it all in stride, almost as if she believed me.

"Funny," she said wryly. She paused, her eyes analyzing me like I was some kind of puzzle to be solve. Her gaze rested on my face, which was no doubt still pale despite the color I had tried to add to it.

"Rough night?" she asked, her tone light but tinged with concern. For as much as we bickered, it was mutually agreed upon that it was wrong to kick an opponent when they were down, and I was _super_ down right then.

"Yeah," I sighed. "I had the dream again."

Blaise grimaced. "Yikes. That's the fifth time in two weeks, isn't it?" I nodded, and she leaned casually against the locker beside me, gaze serious. "Maybe you should talk to your parents about it."

"No," I said immediately, shaking my head. "Talking about Percy will only make my mom sad. Besides, what are they gonna do? Finally send me to a doctor like I've been begging for years?"

She inhaled deeply, contemplating. "Maybe you should take things into your own hands," she suggested. "See someone on your own."

"Who?" I snorted. "Don't you have to get, like, a referral to a psychiatrist?"

"I know some people," Blaise said with a shrug. "And you _won't_ need a referral."

It was then that a tall boy sidled up to my side and leaned casually against the lockers. His voice was a deep rumbly bass as he asked casually, “Are we having a talk about our delicate mental health again?”

Joseph Remington was a senior student at Goode, and he had transferred in at the same time as Blaise. They were always together and had known each other even before coming to the school, and as Blaise became a more permanent fixture in my life, so too did he.

He was much more intimidating than Blaise. He was a little over six feet tall and he possessed an athletic build, practically oozing strength. He had an undercut and dyed his hair black and had a lot of ear piercings to emphasize his wardrobe of dark clothes, leather jackets, and combat boots. His most striking feature was his eyes, which were so dark they weren't even brown. Despite his appearance, though, he went by the unassuming nickname Remi and was one of the coolest people I knew.

“Delicate is too light a word for my mental health,” I said with a sigh, and then quickly explained that I’d had my recurring nightmare once again. “I’m really losing it.”

“Aren’t we all,” Remi said wryly. Unlike Blaise, he appeared unconcerned in the face of my unease, and strangely, that made me feel much better. Remi had a way of making people feel at ease with his cool exterior.

“I lost it a long time ago,” Blaise admitted, her signature Cheshire Cat smile spreading across her lips.

“Did you even really have it?” Remi shot back.

The two began to bicker, and I took a final large gulp of my coffee, too weary to keep up with them.

I glanced down the hall, blinking tiredly, and found my eyes drawn to a small figure hovering by the front doors. It was a beautiful young girl with brown hair and (to my complete horror) glowing red eyes. She held what appeared to be a jar in her hands, but when I blinked in an attempt to focus on what I was seeing, she was gone.

There was suddenly a shout from my right. "Hey, Lex!"

My head snapped around so fast I thought I'd get whiplash. Down the hall, James Phillips was waving at me with a dazzling white smile, and my face immediately flushed as my heartbeat suddenly became very audible in my ears.

James had transferred in a few months after Blaise and Remi had, but instead of blending in like my friends, he had quickly become a school favorite by trying out for sports like the baseball and basketball teams and immediately making varsity for both. He was cute, and popular, and of course he was well aware of that.

Blaise and Remi hated him, and he hated them in turn, but for some reason, he seemed to like me quite a bit.

"Hi," I murmured, feeling quiet and shy as he stopped in front of me.

I didn't like James all that much, either, but he had never been anything but nice to me despite being a horrible person to literally every other person I'd ever seen him interact with. Unfortunately, I am weak to bright smiles and pretty faces, and James happened to be one of the best-looking people I'd ever seen.

"Hi," he said brightly. "You busy this Friday?"

I suddenly forgot how to speak, searching for some excuse. "Uh, I—"

"Yeah, actually," Remi piped up. "I'm tutoring her in math."

James glared suspiciously at him. "You suck at math," he said.

"You suck as a person," Blaise sniped back. "Bye."

Their verbal barbs back and forth gave me time to come up with an even better excuse and some backups, and they were actually legitimate. "My family is going to the beach this weekend, and we're leaving Friday right after school."

"What about tonight?" James pressed.

"I have practice and then I have to look after my brother while my parents run errands."

He frowned. "How old is your brother?"

I cringed, knowing exactly what would come next. "Twelve."

"Isn't he old enough to stay at home on his own?"

"He's blind," I said blandly.

"Oh, sorry to hear that," James said.

"There's nothing wrong with being blind so there's nothing to be sorry about," I said, and now that I was irritated my brain suddenly remembered how to form words into sentences.

"I was hoping you'd help me with chemistry," he continued. "I mean, you're the only one in class who seems to know what they're doing, so I figured you'd be the best person to ask."

"I have a B- in chemistry," I said flatly, unimpressed.

"That's better than a D," he said with a laugh, trying to recover from my obvious disinterest.

"I'm sure you can find a better tutor," I replied, forcing a smile.

James shrugged, still smiling despite the cold responses he was receiving. "Sorry to bother you, then. I'll see you later in class," he said with a cheery wave, completely ignoring Blaise and Remi as he walked away.

Blaise glared after him. "I don't like him," she announced.

"Really," I deadpanned. "I hadn't noticed."

Remi rolled his eyes. "He's bad news."

" _Hot_ bad news," I sighed dreamily.

" _Bad news_ , Lex," Blaise repeated firmly, her face serious. "He's a sketchy dude."

"Unfortunately," I agreed, sighing once more. "Why are the pretty ones always horrible people?"

"Dunno." Blaise shrugged. "Somehow I feel like it's familial with him.” She and Remi shared a look before she quickly directed her gaze back to me and went on. “Also, when did you become so mean?"

"What are you talking about?"

"You were ready to slap him through, like, half of that conversation. Also, you have an A in chemistry. You're literally planning to major in that when you get to college. It's rude to lie, Lex." Despite her words, she was grinning almost like a proud parent.

I grinned slyly. "What people don't know can't hurt 'em."

Blaise shook her head with a cackled. "Famous last words. I'll see you at lunch, twerp."

"Fight me, you witch."

"At lunch!" Blaise confirmed, finally laughing as she walked away. Remi shook his head fondly and followed after her, and I walked in the opposite direction, completely forgetting my hallucination of the young girl.

* * *

 

That night, I went straight to the gym after the final bell. During the school year, I was usually involved in theater productions done by our school, but the last one had just closed, and so my days once again consisted of hours of flips and intense training. I would be at the gym from three to six, and then I would bike home.

I sat down to dinner with my family at seven, and Izzy babbled about his day while Mom and Dad listened contentedly. Afterwards, I excused myself to my room where I did my homework in silence. I finished early, thankfully, and since I was so tired, I went straight to bed at nine.

I didn't dream that night, or the next night, either. Getting a full night of sleep twice was wonderful, but it couldn't last, of course.

Wednesday is when things got a bit weird.

Blaise came over for dinner that night, showing up to my house as I was getting back from gymnastics. I didn't know much about her personal life, but from what I knew, it wasn't pretty. She usually stayed over with me, and as welcoming as my mother was to her, she was also guarded and unsure. Izzy, for some reason, _loved_ Blaise, and because of all of those factors, my mom tolerated her presence.

"It was really good," Blaise said politely after dinner. She knew my mother was unsure when it came to her, so she did her best to be the perfect person in front of her. "Thank you for dinner, Mrs. Blofis."

"Anytime, dear," Mom replied with a small smile. She no longer chided Blaise to call her Sally because it was a pointless endeavor, and how much can you really chide someone for being extra polite? "Now, why don't you all go start on your homework?"

I stacked Izzy's finished plate on mine and carried it to the kitchen, Blaise following close behind with her own plate. We rinsed the dishes off and placed them in the dishwasher before heading to my room.

"Are you staying tonight?" I asked, taking a seat at my desk.

"If it's cool with you and your parents, I'd like to," she admitted, crossing her legs as she sat on my bed. "I . . . can't go home right now."

"Okay," I said. I wouldn't press for details; Blaise was the type of person to tell me things when she was ready, and if she wasn't ready _then_ , I would wait.

We worked in relative silence for a while, soft music playing from my cheap speaker in the background. When eight o'clock rolled around, I shoved my math textbook to side and stood up.

"I'm gonna shower," I announced.

"'Kay," Blaise hummed, not looking up from her own assignment.

I was in and out of the shower in twenty minutes. With a towel wrapped around my head and donned in my comfortable pajamas, I returned to my room. Blaise wasn't there, and her homework laid abandoned on my covers. Frowning, I padded out into the hall, voices drifting from the kitchen.

". . . according to the prophecy," came Blaise's tense voice. "Something's going to happen soon. She needs to be at Camp."

"Absolutely not," my mom snapped, and that was the meanest I'd ever heard her. "I lost one child, and I will _not_ lose another one."

"But Mrs. Blofis, you don't _understand_ , she could find Percy—"

"It's been _thirteen years_ ," Mom choked out, her voice strained. I could practically hear the tears. "Thirteen years. Izzy never knew him, Lex doesn't even _remember_ him, and she's _mortal_. What does she have to do with this new prophecy?"

At this point, I was confused, freaked out, and even a little intrigued as I hovered in the hallway, just listening.

"I don't know," Blaise admitted. Suddenly, she started babbling, which she only did when she was panicking. "No one does. But the prophecy has to do with Lex and the pithos, Annabeth has been having weird dreams, and so has Cass, and—"

"But they're different," Mom insisted. "They can protect themselves. Lex can't."

My mind was suddenly flooded with thoughts and questions. Annabeth had been my babysitter when I was younger, and she still stopped by at least once or twice a year to say hi. What did she have to do with Percy's disappearance? And how did the dreams affect that?

"Lex can't," Blaise agreed slowly. "And she's going to be in a whole lot of trouble of she doesn't get to Camp this summer. Once _he_ finds out, he'll—"

"Enough, Blaise," my mom said, and now she sounded tearful and weary. "Please. Just . . . please leave."

Silence followed, and I panicked, dashing back to my room where I quickly arranged myself at my desk to look like I'd been there for a while. Blaise walked in seconds later, and she might have been trying to look nonchalant, but there was a stiffness in her shoulders that wasn't there before.

"I have to go," she said, packing her papers into her bag. "Turns out everything at home is okay."

"Okay," I said, ever the dutiful friend.

Blaise paused in her packing to look at me. Hesitantly, she said, "We bicker a lot."

I quirked a brow. "Yeah?"

"Yeah." She cleared her throat, obviously uncomfortable. She was about to say something serious, and as someone that was usually mischievous and hilarious, it didn't suit her. "But, like, if you ever need anything, you can call."

"You don't even carry a cellphone, Blaise," I said.

"True," she said, "But I have a number for you to call if you ever need help. Just ask for me if someone else answers." She dug around in her bag, and produced a tiny business card. I took it, and read over the curved script.

 _Camp Half-Blood, Half-Blood Hill, Farm Road 3.141_  
Long Island, New York 11954  
(800) 009-0009

"What is Camp Half—?"

"Don't say it," she interrupted.

"Why?"

"Trust me," she said, and despite everything I'd heard in the kitchen that gave me reason to doubt her, I still trusted her regardless. "I'll see you."

"Tomorrow, bright and early," I confirmed.

Blaise smiled in a way that was completely fake as she crossed to the door. "Perhaps," she said vaguely, closing the door behind her.

I tried to finish my homework after that, but I couldn't focus, so I went straight to sleep after that.

* * *

Blaise didn't appear at my locker the next morning, or the morning after that.

It was possible that she was sick, but it occurred to me that she had never missed a day of school in the last two years I'd known her. Remi was also suspiciously absent, which was just as uncommon for him, and it was all the more weird that they were both gone on the same two days.

I wandered to my classes alone and ate lunch with some of my theater friends, but it wasn't the same. That days were painfully quiet, and because I was alone, it seemed to drag on forever. I could have sworn I saw the little girl from the previous day hovering outside of one of my classes, but just like before, she was gone as quickly as she had appeared.

By the time I got home, it felt like centuries had passed. I considered the business card that Blaise had given me, but thought against calling her. She had to have a good reason for not showing up, and I wouldn't worry. Not _yet_ , anyway.

I was too distracted to properly do my homework, but I did my best anyway, no doubt getting every single math problem wrong and then needing to re-read the chapters of my English assignment almost three times before the words finally began to make sense.

It was a fruitless endeavor, so I shoved my books aside at around ten o'clock, accepted that I'd simply fail those assignments, and buried myself as deep under my covers as I could get. Thoughts swirled around in my head as I stared at the white flower blooming just outside my window, and I drifted off to sleep within minutes.

* * *

I awoke periodically throughout the night, and each time I blinked awake it was to an unsettling feeling in my chest. I kept thinking back to the conversation I'd overheard my mother and Blaise have, and I couldn't help but reflect on certain words.

First and foremost, what the heck was a pithos? Who the heck was Cass, and what did they and Annabeth have to do with anything? What crazy stuff was Blaise involved in that she believed in prophecies?

I glanced at the clock on my nightstand after waking up for the fourth time that night. It read 4:18 AM. With a sigh, I flopped back down on my bed, shuddering. My heart was still thudding painfully against my rib cage, and my thoughts were racing so fast that I knew I wouldn't be getting back to sleep anytime soon.

I reached for my phone and popped off the case, finding the business card tucked between the metal of the device and the flimsy rubber. I read the number and the address over and over, wondering whether or not it would be a good idea to call Blaise.

Not that early, of course, I quickly realized. There was no doubt that I was the only one awake at that time.

So, of course, I put myself to work.

I searched for any information I could find. I looked up what a pithos was, and after finding that it was a Greek storage container, I searched for the term pithos in Greek mythology. In moments, I had Google showing me results for Pandora's Box. I printed out the Wikipedia page for it before reflecting on other important and confusing things in my life.

I thought back to my dream, the one where the sky rumbled with a voice and a man appeared from the sea with a trident. I Googled the different Greek gods and Titans that resided over the sky, feeling increasingly ridiculous with each article I printed.

When I'd exhausted my resources (basically, when I'd run out of my already low supply of printer ink), I thought about my next option.

I couldn't bring up anything to my parents. Any questions about the conversation I'd overheard and concerns about the strange little girl I kept seeing wherever I went would worry my mother, not to mention make her very angry at me for eavesdropping. It was likely she would cancel our first family outing to the beach, and honestly, I needed to get away from the craziness. Besides, maybe if I was in the place that Percy went missing, I could find some answers.

I laid back down with thirty minutes to go before my alarm would go off, and I dozed, daydreaming of gods and goddesses and a little girl holding a jar.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to everyone who left kudos and commented, and even those that did not! I appreciate you all!
> 
> I realized I made a mistake about Lex's age/grade, so I went back and changed that. When this story was first in the making, Lex was 17 rather than sixteen, so she's really a sophomore/10th grader in high school rather than a junior/11th grader. Sorry!
> 
> My goal is to update once a week, but once school starts back up again that might change. So, see y'all next week!


	3. I Develop a Bad Habit of Running Into Weird People

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lex did not sign up for this.

When Izzy and I were younger, he made up a game.

Now, being born blind, Izzy had never had the opportunity to see color. He would ask me all the time to describe blue and red and green and all the colors he could hear by name but never experience first hand, and for the longest time, I had no idea how to describe a color without actually using the word. Saying that the grass is green or the ocean is blue is only a relevant description if you can experience it for yourself.

Izzy was seven and very demanding, so I learned quickly how to play his game.

"Red," Izzy said as we laid under an intricate and carefully crafted pillow fort in my room. It was night, and our parents had probably gone to sleep already, but the magical thrill of our creation kept us wide awake.

"The way roses smell," I replied. "How I feel when I'm mad. Warmth."

"Is that all?" Izzy asked, pouting.

"I'm not good at red," I said apologetically. "Pick another one."

"Yellow."

"The sun on my face. Sunflower petals. Annabeth's hair. Piper's laughter. Hazel's eyes. How I feel when I'm happy or relaxed."

"That's a little better," Izzy giggled. "What about blue?"

". . . I don't like blue, Izzy."

"Aw, come one!" Izzy whined. "You say that every time I ask!"

"Yeah, and it's 'cause I don't like that color."

"Describe it for me," Izzy demanded, tugging insistently on my arm.

I sighed grumpily. "Fine. Blue is Percy."

"Just Percy?"

"Yeah," I said. "Blue is the food Mom would make, from cookies to pancakes, and then when he disappeared, she stopped. Blue is the ocean, and blue is sadness and grief because those things remind her of him. Blue is how I feel when I think of him, too, and blue is bad because it's his color."

"He can't _possibly_ own an _entire color_ ," Izzy said like he knew everything. "That's impossible."

"Not for me," I said, pulling my blanket tighter around my shoulders. "And not for Mom. I bet she'd tell you that blue is all Percy if you asked." Then, hastily, I added, "Which you shouldn't. It'll only make her sad."

"But you said a lot about blue," Izzy noted instead.

"Just because I don't like it doesn't mean I don't know a lot about it," I said. "The things that hurt you tend to leave bigger impressions. Like bruises, which are also blue."

"Bruises suck," Izzy said matter-of-fact. "Is there _anything_ good about blue?"

"One thing," I said. "Blue is Percy, and even though blue is sad, blue is also him, and that's the only thing good about it."

* * *

When I showed up to school, Blaise and Remi were absent once more.

I forgot that it was Friday until around lunch time. I sat at a lunch table alone with the pile of papers I'd printed earlier that morning, desperately pouring over the information. My silent reading was disturbed by someone plopping down on the bench across from me, and I looked up to see James's smiling face.

"Whatever you're reading must be interesting," he mused, looking over at the titles of the different research articles I'd printed. "I didn't know you were into Greek mythology."

"It's a history project," I said distractedly, looking back down at the article I was reading about the _Nereides_.

"Aren't you in AP US history?"

"A personal history project," I corrected, cheeks flushing as I was caught in the lie.

"About ancient Greek sea spirits?"

"Yeah," I said, but then looked up, surprised. "How did you know they're all sea deities?"

James shrugged. "I like Greek mythology, too."

Something about that felt weird, but I dismissed the feeling. It was always possible that I hadn't been the only child that had been told Greek myths as bedtime stories.

"That's cool," I said with a forced smile. All I wanted was for him to leave so I could focus on the information, but James continued to sit like a rock in front of me.

"So, hey, did you change your mind about studying later?" he asked nonchalantly.

I looked up again with a small frown. "I don't think so," I said apologetically. "My family thing is really important to me. I can always help you over Skype of FaceTime or something, or on Monday."

James frowned right back at me. "How disappointing," he sighed. "And here I was, looking forward to a study date with a cute girl."

My cheeks instantly felt warm, even as my stomach churned uneasily. "That's sweet, but I really can't—"

"Come on, Lex," he pouted, making a sad face at me. He looked absolutely ridiculous, and I could help but laugh at how funny he looked. "Just thirty minutes is all I'm asking."

I rolled my eyes with a long-suffering sigh. "Fine," I relented. "But if you're late, I'm leaving. This family thing is really important." It was also thirteen years in the making, but he didn't need to know that bit.

James grinned. "That's fine. I'll meet you in the library. See you around, Lex." He winked at me as he stood and went right back to his own lunch table with his friends.

Cheeks still warm, I struggled to focus on the remaining articles until the bell rang. I packed up my papers, and headed to my next class.

* * *

The school library was completely empty except for the little old lady at the front desk when I got there. Everyone else was going home, no doubt to go out with friends or go to parties and have fun on a warm, beautiful day like that particular Friday.

I waited for James to show up for nearly fifteen minutes before I finally realized I'd been stood up. I packed up the book I'd been pretending to read, trying to ignore the embarrassed warmth rising to my face and the disappointed squeeze in my chest. Even the little old librarian lady gave me a pitying look as I walked out.

The hallways were abandoned as I walked toward the front of the school. Not even janitors lingered to clean in the evenings like they usually did.

I peeked into my dad's classroom, and found him sitting at his desk grading papers. He gave me a smile as I plopped down at the desk right in front of his and propped my chin in my hands.

"How was your day, Lexi?" he asked.

"Fine," I said. "Blaise and Remi were out. Again. And I got stood up by James Phillips, so it's going about as good as a tragedy at this point."

My dad frowned. "I'm sorry that happened, Lex," he said sincerely. "But a tragedy is a little far-fetched, don't you think?"

"I'm a theater kid, Dad," I responded, rolling my eyes. "Exaggeration and dramatics are my thing."

He laughed heartily, thankfully noticing that I wasn't too terribly upset. "Believe me, I know," he murmured. "Are you heading home now? If you want to hang around for forty-five minutes, I'll be leaving around then."

"Nah," I said, standing up. "I'll bike home. I'll see you there, Dad."

"See you later, Lexi."

I walked out the front doors of the school, idly tracing the shape of my cellphone of my jeans pocket. Tucked safely within the case of my phone, the business card felt like it was a brick rather than a piece of paper.

I unchained my bike from the rack and rolled it along as I walked. I started wondering where Blaise was, and if she was okay, and I was so distracted by these musings that I didn't see the figure looming in an alleyway as I passed until it was too late.

I was too startled to yell as a hand seized my arm and yanked me into the small alley, my bike falling to the ground. My hands immediately went up to fight, and I opened my mouth to scream, but stopped short as the assailant spoke.

"Whoa, whoa! It's me, Lex." James Phillips released my arm and stepped back, holding his arms up in a show of surrender.

I inhaled and exhaled sharply, adrenaline pumping through my veins. "Oh my _god_ , you can't just yank a girl into an alley like that! That's creepy!"

"I'm sorry!" James laughed. "I wanted to apologize for missing our study session. I completely forgot about it."

"Yeah," I said warily. "So, you're apologizing. In an alley. Classy."

"Only for you, Lex," he chuckled, sending me one of those smirks boys try and pull off when they're being flirty. "To make it up to you, why don't we go grab some ice cream? My treat."

And after this, kids, is when I learned that 'ice cream' was actually code for 'I'm going to kidnap you with the help of a blood-sucking donkey/automaton demon girl.'

Maybe it's just a me thing, though.

Still, at the time, I didn't know what would happen, so I hesitantly agreed. What could a small ice cream excursion harm, anyway?

"Great!" he said with a pleased grin. "Are you okay with going to _Rita's_ two blocks over?"

I smiled a little. "Yeah, sure."

"Cool. Want me to drive you over there?"

"It's okay, I've got my bike and it's kind of my ride home," I said as we stepped out of the alley. "I'll meet you over there."

"No, no, let me give you a ride," he insisted. "You can fit your bike in the trunk."

"I'll see you there," I said as I picked up my bike and mounted it. I waved a little as I started off down the street.

James's car passed me by within seconds, and he went speeding down the street. By the time I got to _Rita's_ , he was already standing in line. He grinned at me as I locked my bike to the rack on the side of the little ice cream shop and went to join him in line.

We ordered our ice cream and took a seat at the little benches in the sun.

"Thanks for the ice cream," I said with a shy smile.

"No problem," he said. "It's the least I could do since I missed our study session."

I waved my hand dismissively. "It's fine. Maybe we can study some other time."

"Sure," he readily agreed.

We chatted about the upcoming summer, and what our plans were, and other little topics until we finished our ice cream. As we were throwing our trash away, a high shriek came from behind us.

"James! You didn't tell me Percy's sister was so _adorable_!"

The blood in my veins froze at the mention of my brother. Upon first glance, it was a pretty African-American girl that had spoken. I blinked once, twice, and the third time I blinked, the beautiful girl suddenly seemed almost ghoulish. Her skin was white like paper and her eyes like red hot coals, and even her wild black curls changed into flames.

What was most ridiculous, though, was the fact that she had one bronze leg and one donkey leg. That was almost enough to distract me from the sharp fangs in the girl's grinning mouth.

Almost.

"Ah, Kelli!" James greeted cheerily. "What great timing. I was just about to give Lex here a ride home."

I wondered if James could see this terrifying true form, but it occurred to me that he probably knew already if the girl had so casually mentioned my brother like they were both in on his fate.

James grabbed onto my arm with a grip that was bruising and painful. "I insist that you let me drive you. You know how dangerous it can be to go anywhere alone these days," he said with a tone that was scary and threatening. "Get in the car, Lex."

I struggled to breathe evenly as panic set in. "Let go," I demanded.

"Then get in the car," he repeated, pulling me closer. "Don't make me ask again."

Now _that_ made me angry, and my fear dissipated a little. "Or what?" I sneered.

James used his free hand to life up the hem of his shirt, and I caught sight of a sheathed gold knife at his hip. "Or I stop playing nice, and I have Kelli here visit your other brother."

My chest tightened fearfully on Izzy's behalf, and I simply nodded. I didn't have a weapon, and I didn't know how to fight. My chances of winning were slim, and regardless of how much upper body strength I had from gymnastics, James was irrationally strong as I attempted to yank my arm away.

"What do you want from me?" I demanded quietly.

James released my arm. "You'll find out soon," he said as he grabbed my bike. "Let's go."

“Let’s not,” piped up yet another new voice.

James, Kelli, and I turned to face the newcomer. It was the beautiful little girl with the glowing red eyes that I kept seeing wherever I went, and my jaw practically hit the floor when she didn’t immediately disappear after a moment.

Beside her stood another woman who was too beautiful to really put into words, with skin dark like clay and eyes that gleamed like molten gold. She was dressed in a flowing white gown, making her stick out from the little girl in the plain brown dress.

The air hummed around us, and I quickly realized it was because of them that it did so.

“I suggest you let Alexandra go,” the girl went on cheerily. In one arm, casually propped up against her hip, was the pithos. In her other hand was a vanilla ice cream cone.

“Actually, we _insist_ ,” the other woman said. At her hip hung a bronze sword, short but definitely real and deadly.

James let out a string of curses in another language under his breath, and Kelli sneered at the two newcomers.

“You won’t always be there to protect her,” Kelli sneered at them, and then turned to me. “Watch your back, mortal.” With that, she and James got into his car and they sped away.

It was until they had turned the corner and out of my sight that I realized how badly I was shaking. My knees buckled, and it was only the woman in white reaching out to steady me that kept me standing.

“What the heck,” I whispered, awed.

The woman in white frowned at me. “I’m truly sorry for that little scene, Alexandra,” she apologized sincerely. “My blessing was never meant to place you in danger.”

“I—what?” I spluttered. “Just who _are_ you?”

“I am Pandora,” the woman said. “The first woman in all of mankind.”

“I’m Hestia,” the girl added. “Goddess of the hearth.”

I glanced around at the ice cream shop patrons that milled about, but none seemed to notice two Greek mythological entities standing in the parking lot.

“This isn’t real,” I said, my voice bordering hysteric. “I must be dreaming again.”

“This isn’t a dream,” Hestia promised, smiling brightly in a way that made comforting warmth spread through me. “I’m glad that it isn’t, actually. Demigods don’t often notice me, and mortals even less so. The fact that you keep seeing me everywhere is flattering.”

“Uh, thanks?” I still wasn’t quite sure what was going on.

The girl— _goddess, holy crap_ —Hestia smiled wider. “Please come visit me when you get to Camp, Alexandra. We have much to discuss.”

“I think we should discuss things _now_ ,” I blurted. “Starting with, what the heck is going on? And you—” I turned to Pandora. “What kind of blessings are we talking about here?”

“Your sight, of course,” she said. “It was I that blessed you with the ability to see through the Mist.”

“The what-now?”

“The Mist,” she repeated, smiling wryly. “A veil that divides the world of the mortals from the world of the gods.”

“The Greek gods,” I said slowly, stupidly.

“Correct,” she said. “You probably don’t remember me, but I remember you very clearly. We have the same fatal flaw, you see.”

“Oh?” I squeaked, afraid of what came next. The word _fatal_ wasn’t exactly a nice word, after all.

“Curiosity,” Pandora said. “You were so curious as a child. You still are, in fact, and that intrigued me. You had a natural talent to see through the Mist, and I simply . . . enhanced it a little.”

“So . . . you’re saying I see all those creepy monsters because of you?”

“Yes,” Pandora said, smiling like it was a good thing.

“I thought I was going crazy!” I said. “Clinically! I thought I needed a specialist or an asylum or something!”

“You need nothing of the sort,” Pandora chided. “You see the world with wonder, and that is a very admirable trait to have.”

“You said it was fatal,” I said accusingly.

“It can be, in ways,” Pandora agreed. “But regardless of your lack of godly blood, I saw greatness in you, Alexandra Blofis, and I see it still today.”

“This is too much,” I said. My head was starting to hurt, a dull ache at the back of my skull forming.

Pandora frowned, concerned like she had been when she first appeared. “I’m sorry,” she said. “Perhaps it’s best we take our leave, then. You will find out more soon enough.”

“I—what’s that supposed to mean?” I demanded.

“Soon,” Pandora repeated. "Until then, I wish for you to have this." A necklace of pearls hung from her neck, and without any other preamble, she handed it to me like pearls weren't considered precious stones in the jewelry world. "You will face many trials in the coming years, my child, and this will ensure that you stay afloat."

"Thank you," I said, staring down at the string of pearls in my hand. It would be weird to wear them with my school uniform, so I tucked them safely into my backpack.

“You should head home now, Alexandra,” Hestia piped up. “Your parents will be worried.”

I looked at the clock on my phone, cursing mentally as I took note of the time. I was meant to be home in five minutes, and I still had to bike for another ten at least.

“Will I see you again?” I asked as I straddled my bike. I still felt rather dazed, like the last ten minutes had been one elaborate, crazed dream.

“Sooner than you think,” Hestia said vaguely. “Now, if you wish to live, I suggest you look away.”

I really didn’t want to tempt fate after that strange encounter, so I turned and quickly pedaled away, ignoring the golden glow from behind me. I didn’t look back as I pedaled at top speed all the way home, making the commute in six minutes rather than ten.

The first thing I did when I burst through the front door was hug Izzy tightly to me. He always came to greet me by the front door, smiling brighter than the sun as I returned from school, and I would ruffle his hair and ask about his day. This time, however, I clung to him. I thought about the threat from James, and my arms tightened around my little brother.

Izzy laughed, delighted, as he hugged me back. "How was your day, Lexi?"

"Strange," I told him honestly, skipping the long story I wanted nothing more than to tell him. He was still fascinated by Annabeth's stories of the Greek gods, but those stories were never meant to be a reality.

Izzy pulled me into the kitchen as he babbled about his own day and how excited he was to leave for the beach. My mom was packing food into bags for the weekend as Izzy plopped into a chair. “Are we leaving now?” he asked.

“As soon as your father gets home,” Mom promised.

She asked about my day with a genuine interest, and I told her the same story about James and Remi and Blaise that I had told my dad. I didn’t mention my almost kidnapping or Kelli, or Pandora and Hestia. Somehow, I didn’t think my mom would be all that eager to be going on a trip with any threat of danger.

My phone felt heavy in my pocket, the business card practically calling my name, but I did my best to ignore the feeling. I would call Blaise when we got back on Sunday. Surely James and the demon cheerleader wouldn’t know where my family was going away for the weekend.

When dad got home and we had all packed into the car, I did my best to forget about my weird Friday and focus instead on the wonderful weekend ahead.

* * *

 The cabin was dusty and had spiders in every corner, but it was charming. No one had been in it since Percy had disappeared all those years ago, so it made sense that it was a little gross, but a good two hours of dusting and vacuuming had the place looking more habitable.

My mom was obviously very uncomfortable, but my dad tried his best to make her laugh and smile. Izzy and I said nothing, afraid that the smallest wrong word would cause the tears that kept appearing in her eyes to overflow.

At one point, she went to the restroom, and Dad pulled me and Izzy aside. "I think I'm going to take your mom to dinner tonight to get away from here. This place makes her sad."

"Yeah, we know," I said. "We'll get out of your hair for a while. I'm pretty sure Izzy and I are both dying to go to the beach, aren't ya, Iz?"

"Yes!" he whooped. He disappeared down the hall, hands feeling around as he did so, presumably to get his swim trunks on.

Dad smiled a little. "Alright. Lex, make sure you keep your phone on you, and Izzy can't go into the water by himself. Keep an eye on him."

"Well, duh," I said. "We're not Percy, Dad, and it's broad daylight. What's the worst that could happen?"

"Famous last words," Dad chuckled, ruffling my hair.

How right he was.

* * *

 "Will you teach me how to swim, Lexi?" Izzy asked eagerly as I attempted to braid my frizzy curls. If we were going to be outside, the last thing I wanted was the gnarled brown strands all in my face.

"It's just like swimming in a normal pool, Iz," I giggled, brushing the tangles out of the ends of my hair. "Just . . . saltier."

"It sounds like fun," Izzy said dreamily.

"You can't go unless one of us is with you," I said sternly. "There are currents, and riptides, and the last thing we need is for you to be swept out to sea, you crazy kid."

Izzy sighed dramatically. "I'm blind, not stupid."

"I know," I said fondly. "I just worry, is all."

"Mom does enough worrying for the entire family, so it's pointless for you to do it too."

"Hush," I chided quietly, finishing the end of the long braid. "She has reason to. And I know you and I don't remember him, but she does, so the least we can do is be supportive and sensitive to her feelings. I'm surprised we're even here. I thought for sure she'd call off the whole thing." She definitely would have if I’d told her anything about my day.

"Yeah." I finished wrapping the hair tie around the end of my braid, and Izzy hopped off the bed we'd be sharing for the weekend, feeling around for his flip flops. "Enough sad stuff, though. Let's go have fun!"

We said our goodbyes to Mom and Dad, gathered our towels and a soccer ball, and headed down to the beach.

Izzy immediately loved the ocean. The minute the waves crashed against his sandy feet, he dashed right in, not even waiting for me. I rushed to keep up with him as he simply crashed through the water until he was practically waist deep in the ocean, shrieking at how cold it was.

The beach was relatively crowded regardless of the late afternoon sun, so if things went wrong there would be plenty of help, and although I knew that Izzy could handle himself for the most part, I still worried about his lack of sight when it came to barging into things like the ocean.

We waded out a bit farther, and I held onto Izzy's hands as he paddled around in the water, grinning so big that I thought his face would split. Everything was going well until we were making our way out, and Izzy let out a sharp yelp of pain.

I was immediately on guard as he stopped walking, the water at our knees. "What? What's wrong?"

Izzy grimaced. "I stepped on something sharp," he said as he lifted his foot out of the water. Blood was welling up on his heel, and though the gash was small, the blood was already dripping down his foot and into the water.

I glanced down, searching for what could have cut him that badly. There weren't any sharp shells around, but I did see something shining gold in the sun as it hit the water.

My heart skipped three beats as I reached down to get a closer look. It was a gold pen. Specifically, it was _the_ gold pen from my dreams. The cap was jagged and sharp, and it was no doubt the culprit of Izzy's wound.

"What cut me?" Izzy asked.

Hesitantly, I plucked it out of the water, and stuffed just stuck it in my braid like I usually did with pencils before he could ask about it.

"Just a shell. Come on, let's get you back to the cabin to clean that cut," I said, helping him up onto my back.

I gave him a piggy-back ride up the beach and to the cabin, where thankfully I was able to sneak him in without Mom catching sight of us. The trip would be over the minute she saw Izzy had been hurt.

I sat Izzy at the kitchen table and went to the bathroom to grab the first aid kit we had shoved into the cabinet there, and grabbed the antiseptic and bandages. I quickly cleaned and bandaged the cut, and just like that, Izzy was good as new.

Dad came out of his and Mom's room as I left the bathroom after putting the first aid kit back, and he stopped to look at me suspiciously. "Well, that was a quick swim," he said. "I thought for sure you'd be out longer."

"Izzy stepped on a shell," I said, the pen feeling suddenly heavy against the back of my head. "We came back to bandage it."

Izzy suddenly appeared in the hallway, hands groping. "Can we still go back to the beach?" he asked with a frown, as if scared that Mom would freak out and call the whole thing off.

I glanced at Dad for the okay, and when he nodded, I sighed. "Sure, Izzy. Let's stay on the sand this time, okay? We can kick around the soccer ball or something."

Izzy nodded and headed back to the kitchen.

Dad turned to me with a heavy sigh. "So much for staying out of trouble," he said wryly, and I grinned back at him. It was more of a grimace, actually, since my afternoon of trouble was replaying once again in my head, but he didn’t need to know that either. "Your mother and I will be leaving soon. Make sure you're back before dark, please. We left you dinner in the fridge."

"Thanks, Dad. Enjoy your date night," I called, dashing after Izzy.

* * *

 Izzy and I spent the next hour kicking the soccer ball back and forth, creating a make-shift goal out of broken sea shells and rocks we collected from the edge of the water. Despite his blindness, Izzy enjoyed being active, and he absolutely loved soccer. Though he couldn't see, he often tried to test his hearing skills when it came to sports. He may not have been able to see the ball rolling toward him, but he could hear the sounds it made and guess where it was. Sometimes, he was right, too.

Everyone was leaving the beach for the day as the sun went down, and soon enough, it was just the two of us in our tiny section of beach, and a guy fishing on the other side of the sand dunes where the sun was barely peaking over the horizon.

I collapsed onto the sand, and Izzy walked up to me with the ball tucked casually under his arm and a smirk on his face. "We need to get back soon," I said, trying to hide the fact that I was slightly out of breath.

"Ten more minutes?" he begged, smiling innocently.

I sighed dramatically and forced myself to my feet, brushing sand off my arms. "Fine."

Izzy grinned and ran down the beach, tossing the ball toward me. The only problem was that he overestimated his power on the shot, and the ball went flying far to the left instead of forward. I stood still and groaned loudly while it rolled quickly down the dunes.

Izzy burst into fits of snickers. "Better go get that," he laughed, and I could still hear his laughing even as I rushed off to grab the ball, which happened to have stopped rolling just behind the lone fisherman.

The man was very tanned, like he spent every waking moment in the sunshine. He was dressed in a tacky Hawaiian shirt and board shorts, and there was a fishing rod held firmly within his grasp. He looked like he belonged in a vacation commercial with the way the setting sun silhouetted his figure, but the side of his face that I could see looked unbelievably sad.

And less than a foot behind him was the lost soccer ball.

I ran down the sand dunes, slipping and sliding from at their steepness. My goal had been not to disturb the man, but he turned just as I reached down to grab the soccer ball, and when our eyes met, a bolt of electricity seemed to shoot through me. Instead of a fishing pole, he was now holding a large golden trident, right out of _The Little Mermaid._

He also looked exactly like the strange man in my dreams, but I was more focused on the sharp weapon in his hand rather than the deja-vu moment I was having.

 _Great,_ I thought. I was seeing weird things again, and honestly, I had seen more than my fair share that day.

For a long moment, the man and I just stared at each other as I slowly straightened out. I kept waiting for the trident to disappear, because I was obviously seeing things, but it never did.

"Not again,” I groaned, my knuckles white as I gripped the soccer ball.

The man looked to his trident and then back to me. "You look awfully familiar," he murmured.

"You're holding a trident," I replied dumbly.

He glanced at the shining weapon in his hand, a brief flash of surprising appearing on his face. "I'm surprised you can see it," he said. "That doesn't happen very often."

I slowly started backing away. "You're just one of those weird apparitions I see," I said, mostly to myself. I desperately wanted to believe that everything weird I saw, like this guy and Kelli and Hestia and Pandora and even the monsters, were all just in my head. It was much more appealing to be hallucinating than to have another Greek godly figure standing before me. This could only mean bad things were going to happen soon.

"I assure you I am not," the man declared. "If you can see my trident, then you can see through the Mist, child."

I was not in the mood for this again. "I don't see any mist," I said bluntly. "Now, if you'll excuse me—"

"What is your name?" the man asked, and he didn't sound like he meant me any harm. His tone was purely curious.

Now, don't ask me why, but despite everything I'd been through that day, I hesitated. For some reason, I felt like I could trust the man with the familiar green eyes and lined face. "Lex," I said. "Lex Blofis."

The man chuckled, the smile lines around his eyes crinkling. "I knew someone with that name," he said. "Are you related in any way to a Paul Blowfish?"

"Blofis," I corrected, but then stopped, confused. "You know my dad?"

"I do," the man confirmed, nodding. "He's married to Sally Jackson, yes?"

"She's Sally Blofis now, but yes," I said. "And who are you?"

"My name is Poseidon," he said. "I'm Percy's father."

My jaw probably hit the sand as it dropped. "No way," I gasped. "I thought you were lost at sea." It hadn’t even occurred to me that Percy was the son of a Greek god, but now that the thought was there, it seemed to fit. It sure explained a lot of weird things.

Poseidon smiled thinly. "It seems you have much to learn, Lex Blowfish."

"Blofis," I corrected once again, but I was too dumbfounded and awed to be irritated or angry. "I—"

"Lexi!" Izzy yelled from the top of the dunes. "Did ya fall in or something?"

I turned my gaze to him for nothing more than a moment. "Just a minute!" I yelled back. "Now, Poseidon—" I turned back around, but the man and his trident were gone, leaving no indication that he had been there in the first place.

A chill made its way down my spine, and I shuddered, suddenly remembering the pen that I had dropped so casually on the night table back at the cottage. I looked all around for Poseidon, and finding no trace of him, I simply picked up the soccer ball and ran back to my brother.

"Come on," I said firmly. "We're leaving."

Izzy whined of course, and while his pleas usually worked on me, I was too freaked out to let him sucker me into staying on the empty beach any longer. Slinging an arm around his tiny shoulders, I quickly ushered him back to the beach house, the hairs on the back of my neck prickling the entire time.


	4. I Decide to Phone a Friend

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Poor Lex, honestly.

Mom and Dad came back from their evening out shortly after Izzy and I had eaten, showered, and curled up on the lumpy couch to watch _Jaws_. When they asked about our afternoon at the beach, I failed to mention anything about Poseidon or Percy. The last thing I wanted was to upset my mother and have our first family trip cut short just because weird stuff was happening. I would mention it to my dad eventually, but right then and there, nothing mattered more than making sure our weekend was great and my mom had a good time.

Even as the evening wore on and my parents retired to their room, I sat on the couch with Izzy. He picked another movie after _Jaws_ , but I hardly paid it any attention, too intently focused on the gold pen I had stuffed in one of my clean socks and hidden in my small suitcase. I thought of my dreams, and Poseidon, and how my hallucinations were fighting their way out of my dreams and subsequently ending up in my reality. Either I was getting more mentally ill by the day, or something truly strange was happening.

I really wish I had been having a mental break rather than the truth.

Despite how much he loved to pick out all the background noises of films and describe them to me in great detail, Izzy fell asleep half way through the movie, and I came out of my daze long enough to wake him up and drag him to bed. He was half-leaning on me as I practically carried him toward our room, and though I had woken him, he was the kind of person that could go back to sleep immediately after being wakened.

As if to prove my point, he flopped onto his side of the bed and began to snore quietly, clutching the pillow tightly.

I made my way back out into the small living room and turned off the movie, as well as the lights. I was still feeling weird about the strange man I had encountered earlier, so just to be sure that nothing was wrong, I peeked outside. I saw nothing as I stood at the front window, listening to the crash of the waves against the sand. Everything was as it should be, and I felt myself relax just a little.

Carefully groping my way through the dark, I made my way back to the room I shared with Izzy, and laid down on my side of the bed. I didn't sleep for a very long time, too nervous about what I would see once I closed my eyes. If my hallucinations were coming back, then my nightmares would no doubt follow, so I simply stared at the popcorn ceiling, my eyes feeling itchy and droopy. I was only delaying the inevitable, though; within the next few minutes I found myself asleep.

* * *

That night, I dreamed of a boy.

And before you think too badly of me, let me just tell you that it wasn't _that_ kind of dream, okay?

The first thing I noticed about the setting of my dream was that it was underwater. I floated weightless in the cold and vast ocean, not breathing in water but also not holding my breath. It was a weird sensation, one that I knew I'd only ever be capable of in sleep.

I slowly turned in the water, squinting and searching for any indication that I was not alone. Just as I had convinced myself that there was no one and that I would just be floating in the sea for a while, something latched onto my foot.

I screamed (which sounded weird underwater by the way), and bubbles billowed rapidly out of my mouth and disappeared toward the surface. I kicked out and struggled to rid my ankle of the vice-like grip, but it clung desperately. I looked down into the water, and it wasn't some weird monster holding onto my foot, but a human hand. Attached to that hand was an olive-toned arm, and that arm was attached to a drowning boy.

Terrified green eyes met mine, and I would have gasped if I weren't underwater. _Percy!_ I thought widely.

It took me a moment to realize that the boy wasn't actually Percy. First of all, the guy couldn't have been too much older than me; maybe seventeen at the most. He also had skin that was much darker than Percy's, in a way that spoke more of genetics rather than spending a ton of time in the sun.

Bubbles spewed out of his mouth and his grip began to slack, his nails no longer digging harshly into my skin. His wide eyes began to flutter as a glazed look settled over them, almost as if the boy was falling asleep. There was no doubt in my mind that the boy was dying.

I desperately clawed through the water and grasped onto his cold, frigid fingers, grasping them tightly. I tried to pull the boy up toward the surface, but somehow I couldn't get him to move. I watched as his eyes closed for good, bubbles no longer coming out of his mouth, and he no longer moved. His hand slipped from mine, and he floated down, down toward a dark and unforgiving ocean.

“Be careful, Lex Blowfish,” a booming voice warned. “Tomorrow, the tide brings great troubles for you, and everything will become clear.”

* * *

I woke to Izzy kicking me rather violently in the side as he rolled over, and the smell of pancakes drifted into our room from the kitchen.

After dragging my brother out of bed, our family had a normal breakfast, chatting about what we had done the day before as Izzy brought our parents up to speed on his first ocean and beach experience.

"I can tell you had a good time," Dad chuckled. "You look redder than a lobster, Izzy."

Izzy grinned. "Do I? What a great first beach experience!"

Mom smiled, and even though it was a small one, the fact that it existed made me very excited. "Not so fast, little man. We might want to have you avoid the sun today so you don't get sun poisoning."

"What's that? It sounds gross," Izzy declared, wrinkling his nose.

"Trust me, honey, you don't want to find out."

"Can I still go out today?" I asked. Unlike Izzy, who was rather fair-skinned like our father, I happened to tan easily. If I burned, it was only because I spent hours upon hours in the sun.

"Sure," Mom said. "Izzy, dear, how about you come with me and your dad to the store? We want to make some cookies tonight for the car ride back tomorrow."

Izzy was disappointed for all of five seconds before agreeing. As sad as he was about not getting to go to the beach that day, as a boy, his heart belonged in his stomach, and there was nothing he loved more than Mom's cookies.

I was left to my own devices around noon, and as soon as I was sure I had the cottage to myself, I retreated to my room to further analyze the pen. I pulled it out of the sock under the bed, and held it close to the window to examine it in the sun's light.

I turned the pen over until I saw letters. On the side in fancy lettering was the word _Anaklusmos_. After a quick Google search, I found that it meant Riptide in Ancient Greek. There was nothing else I could find out about it, though, since searching "ancient greek pens with funny names like anaklusmos" didn't yield any results.

"Okay," I whispered to myself. "This is too freaky."

My dream still stuck with me, and every time I blinked I saw the slack face of the drowning boy. My chest clenched with guilt and fear, like somehow it hadn't been a dream at all.

Setting the pen aside, I pulled out the pearl necklace that Pandora had given to me. I laid both items on the kitchen counter and stared hard that them for a long moment, like I would suddenly find the answer to every question that swirled within my head.

With every other resource exhausted, I decided I had one last option. I pulled my phone out of my pocket and popped off the Lifeproof case. I laid the business card on the counter with the neckace and the pen as I replaced my phone cover and turned it over in my hands anxiously. I stared at the number, and after a moment of contemplating, I slowly dialed it.

I double and triple checked it to make sure that it was in fact that correct sequence of numbers before pressing call, and I waiting as it began to ring.

It rang four times before someone picked up. "Hi, you've reached Camp Half-Blood," a girl with a low, cheery southern drawl informed me. "This is Kenzie speaking. How can I help you?"

I realized I'd been holding my breath since I'd pressed call, and it all came out of me in a rush of word vomit as I babbled, "Hi, yeah, this is Lex Blofis and I really need to speak to Blaise because I met three immortal people in the last twenty-four hours and a monster cheerleader and it's freaking me out and I found a pen from my dreams and _yeah_ , is she there?"

The girl on the other end was silent. I was just beginning to wonder if she'd decided I was too strange to deal with and hung up on me when she finally responded. "Uh, yeah, just let me go get her for ya real quick."

I waited on hold for nearly ten minutes before another voice came over the line. "Lex? Are you okay?"

Never before had I been so relieved to hear my nemesis. "Yeah, kinda," I sighed, relieved. "I have a lot to ask you."

"I heard that you met three immortal people in the last few hours," she said like it wasn't out of the ordinary to meet gods and goddesses. "That's more than I've met in, like, all my years at Camp."

"What's going on, Blaise?" I demanded, too tired to try and piece together half-truths and vague replies. "Why did Pandora give me pearls? Why did I find a pen from my dreams on the beach? Why did the fisherman with the trident tell me he was Poseidon and disappear? Why does James know demon cheerleaders, and why did they try and kidnap me?"

"He tried to _what_?" Blaise squawked. "When?"

"Yesterday after school, but that's not important at this point in time because I really, really need to know what the heck is going on."

"Where are you right now?" Blaise demanded, ignoring my questions altogether. "It sounds like you're in trouble, Lex."

"I'm at Montauk," I said. "At the beach. You'd know that if you and Remi hadn't ditched me for the last three days," I said accusingly.

"Look, Lex, it was to protect you, we didn't leave you on purpose-"

"Blaise, _what the heck is going on?_ " I demanded. "What are you trying to protect me from?"

"From _me!_ " came a sing-song voice behind me.

I screeched loudly as I whipped around, the phone pressed close to my ear. Kelli and James were suddenly in the doorway to the kitchen, the former in her true monstrous form and the latter with a wickedly sharp dagger in his right hand.

"Lex!" Blaise barked. "What? Are you okay?"

"No!" I snapped, snatching the necklace and the pen from the counter and bolting for the closest exit, which just so happened to be an opened window over the sink. I mentally thanked my mother for putting me in gymnastics as I vaulted over the counter and through the window, taking the screen of it with me as I rolled into the sand outside. I stumbled to my feet and took off down the beach, too terrified to look behind me.

"Kelli and James found me," I panted. The beach was suspiciously empty as I ran, which was confusing because it was a beautifully warm Saturday afternoon. "Kelli is the demon cheerleader, by the way."

"I figured," Blaise said, her voice strained. "Look, just stay on the phone with Kenzie. I'm on my way right now, but until I get there, you need to listen to her very carefully." There was a slam on her end, and the sound of a car engine.

"Why should I?" I demanded, panting as I pushed my legs to carry me faster. "You've been lying and hiding things from me for two years!"

"Uh, I haven't lied to you. I don't even _know_ you," Kenzie said, laughing awkwardly. "But at this point, do you really have any other choice?"

"Fine, tell me what to do!" I all but growled. I finally glanced behind me, and found that Kelli and James were not too far behind me. I ran close to the water's edge where it was easier to run, but they were still struggling through the dry sand on their way to me.

"That pen you told me about earlier, is it your brother's?"

"Yeah, I guess? He had it in the dream."

"And in the dream, what did he do with it?"

"Is this really the best time for me to figure things out, Kenzie? I don't know, it turned into a sword or something."

"Then turn it into a sword! Uncap it!"

"What, why? I don't know how to fight!"

"Learn fast, then. If you can't run anymore or you can't get away, use it, but only if you have to."

"That's not helpful!" I wailed.

"Just shut up and run!" she snapped, finally sounding anything other than cheery. Now she only sounded irritated. "Save your breath instead of bitching at me! Blaise is no doubt breaking every possible traffic law in existence right now so just _hold on_!"

My jaw dropped wordlessly to hear the calm girl so angry now. I said nothing in response, though, and opted to take her advice and run with all I was worth.

Kenzie spoke again, and she sounded much more calm this time. "You're doing great, Lex. Are they still following you?"

I glanced behind me, and I ground to a halt, panting. "No," I said, glancing all around. "No, I don't see them."

"Be alert, they could still be in the area," Kenzie instructed. "Who were you running from, anyway? I didn't catch that part from Blaise before she left."

"Some weird cheerleader named Kelli and this guy James from high school," I replied, squatting and placing my free hand on my knee as I turned my back to the ocean and breathed deeply. "I guess I lost them while running over the sand dunes or something."

Kenzie made a choking noise. "What's James's last name?" she demanded.

"Phillips," I said. "Not that it's important or anything."

"It _is_ important, though," she said stiffly. "Are you anywhere near the water?"

"Yeah? It's easier to run closer to the water 'cause the sand is more packed down."

"Get away from the water right now!" Kenzie demanded.

Before I could even begin to listen to her orders or ask why, a large shadow fell over me. I turned just in time to watch a huge wave coming down upon me. I didn’t even have time to draw in a breath as it swallowed me. My body hit the sand hard, and I gasped, water entered my mouth and nose. I expected it to hurt, but for some reason, it was exactly like breathing air.

I clung tightly to my phone (and thanked my past self for being smart enough to buy one of those Lifeproof cases which so happened to be water proof) in one hand and the pen and necklace in the other as I was thrown around in the water.

I was finally dropped onto the sand and dug my elbows in as the water receded, leaving me panting in shock onthe beach. I could hear Kenzie screaming on the phone through my waterlogged ears, and I shakily held the phone up.

"Whoops," I said eloquently, my ribs throbbing painfully with every breath and heartbeat. "Guess I wasn't fast enough."

"I guess not," James hummed as both he and Kelli appeared in front of me.

"Use the pen, Lex!" Kenzie yelled. "Blaise is almost there, but for now _use the pen!_ "

Kelli had already casually snatched both out of my hand as James leaned over me. "Who are you talking to? Blaise? Remi?"

"Kenzie, actually," I corrected, and I found that I didn't even have the energy to stand up anymore, let alone run. "She also thinks you're a scumbag."

"Ah, of course she would," James hummed. “She’s the jealous type. All she’s good for is picking locks and stealing things, but me? I control the _ocean_.”

“Good for you, man,” I said, feeling delirious. “Still doesn’t make up for the fact that this is your second kidnapping attempt.”

“Is it really an attempt if it’s successful?” Kelli sneered, reaching for my arm with her clawed hand and yanking me to my feet.

“Run!” Kenzie was yelling now. “Lex, run!”

James pried the phone from my hand. “Sorry, Kenzie, darling, but it’s a little late for that now. Bye.” He ended the call and shoved the phone into his own pocket, grabbing my other arm.

“Y’know, I’m beginning to see why Blaise and Remi hate you,” I said as I was dragged up the beach and toward the road. “Also, I’m kind of curious as to how kidnapping me benefits you. My parents aren’t rich, so ransom is out of the question, and I don’t have anything you could possibly want.”

“And that’s where you’re wrong,” James said. In his hand that wasn’t holding onto my arm with bruising force, he held a knife, and I wasn’t eager to test his abilities with it. “You’ll turn out to be very useful, I’m sure.”

I didn’t struggle as I was led away. It was hard to walk on the black road without shoes, but I wasn’t about to voice my complaints. I would have much rather burned my feet than get stabbed.

After a brief and tense walk, James’s car came into view. I was shoved into the backseat and Kelli sat beside me, her teeth bared threateningly as James got into the driver’s seat and started the engine.

“Where are we going?” I demanded as he pulled away from the curb.

“Places,” Kelli giggled, flashing me a menacing smile.

James glanced over at me with a look that clearly said that he thought I was stupid. “Have you not figured it out yet? For someone so smart, you can be so stupid sometimes.”

“Were you—are you involved?” I demanded. “With Percy’s disappearance, I mean.”

“Kinda.” James grinned slyly at me in the rearview mirror. “You know what the children of the gods and mortals are called, don’t you?”

“Demigods,” I said slowly, knowing that much from all the stories Annabeth and Mom had told me over the years.

“Percy is one,” James said. “And so am I, and so is Blaise.”

“Blaise is a demigod?” I squawked incredulously. “Really?”

“Hardly,” James snorted. “Her mom isn’t even really a goddess; she’s a spirit called Aletheia.”

“Huh?”

“The spirit of truth,” James clarified.

I stared at him dubiously. “Who’s your godly parent, then?”

“Telling you would take all the fun out of this,” he chided. “Let’s just say your brother and I have a lot in common."

Before I could demand that he elaborate, a car came up on the left side and grazed his side of the car, sending us spinning off onto the shoulder and crashing into the guard rail. The air bags popped out immediately, and I was blinded for a moment.

I didn’t even feel any pain, too focused instead on retrieving my phone. That phone had things like my mother and father’s numbers, and even though I didn’t think there would be a way for James to access those, I didn’t want to take the risk.

Like an idiot, he hasn’t been wearing a seatbelt, so he was half laying over the steering wheel with his butt in the air where my phone sat in his back pocket. I unfastened my seatbelt and lunged forward to grab it, shoving it into my own pocket.

Suddenly, my door was ripped open. I blinked up at the newcomer, and found Blaise staring down at me.

“Lex?” She leaned forward, eyes full of what looked to be worry.

Beside me, Kelli hissed where she was clawing through the seatbelt holding her in place. At her feet laid the pen and the necklace, both of which she must have let go of in the crash. I snatched them off the floor among the pieces of glass and struggled out of the wreckage.

“Please get me out of here,” I begged.

Remi appeared right behind her, and they both helped me out of the car. The minute I stood, my head was spinning, and my temple hurt. I put my hand to my head, and I hissed at the pain it caused. When I pulled my hand away, it was coated in blood.

“Ouch,” I mumbled.

“We’ll take care of it when we get to Camp,” Remi promised as he and Blaise helped me into a van that advertised strawberries on the side of it. “Right now, we need to get out of here.”

Blaise hopped in the back with me as Remi got behind the driver’s seat of the dented van. “I need to call my mom,” I said, reaching for my pocket.

“When we get to Camp,” Remi said. “Blaise, don’t let her go to sleep.”

“I’m not tired,” I protested, but my head was definitely swimming as Blaise gently pried my hand away from my pocket.

“Okay,” Blaise said, and didn’t push the topic even though I probably looked like a mess, dripping salt water, sandy, glass, and blood all over the back seat as I sat there barefoot.

We drove for less than thirty minutes, leaving Montauk for back roads surrounded by trees. Eventually, we came to a gravel parking lot at the base of a grassy hill, where Remi finally put the van in park.

“Alright, let’s go,” Blaise said, helping me out of the back.

My head hurt a lot at that point, but I could stand on my own just fine. I looked up at the trees on the hill, and nearly shrieked at what I saw. “Is that a dragon? Am I hallucinating? Do I have brain damage?”

“No,” Blaise cackled. “Gods, this would be hilarious under different circumstances. You’re fine, Lex.”

“Really? ‘Cause I feel like I might be insane.”

Blaise rolled her eyes. “Come on. We’ll get you cleaned up and explain what’s going on.”

With that, Remi and Blaise led me up the hill toward the arch that read _Camp Half-Blood_ , and away from the world I thought I knew.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sooo with work it's getting hard to update weekly since my chapters tend to be long, so from now on it'll be biweekly. Chapter 5 will be out in two weeks!


	5. I Meet the Boy of my Dreams—Literally

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Getting to Camp Half-Blood is simply the calm before the storms. And trust me, there will be many.

I could see the entire camp atop the hill, from a sandy beach to the volleyball court to a weird rock climbing wall that was spewing lava. The camp was magnificent, and everything I had ever imagined it would be from all the stories I'd heard. There were tons of cabins and buildings, and each looked different. There was an angry red cabin, and one that looked to be made of marble, and one that looked like a realistic Barbie house. It was strange and magnificent all in one.

Remi and Blaise were leading me to a sky-blue farm house with white trim that appeared to have a bronze eagle weather vane on the roof.

"This is the Big House," Remi said. "There's an infirmary where we'll get you bandaged up, and then we'll talk and answer your questions."

"Good, 'cause I've got a ton," I said.

The infirmary was quite large and lined with beds, like they were constantly prepared to treat many people at once. Off toward the back of the infirmary, a familiar blond man sat at a desk, but stood when he heard us enter.

He immediately brightened when we entered, and his smile was brighter than the sun itself. He zeroed in on me instantly. "Hi, Lex! Kenzie came by a little bit ago to let me know you'd be stopping by."

Blaise snorted. "She is nothing if not thorough. I'm going to go find her." She and Remi left the room, and I stared at Will in stunned silence.

Will looked at me, and I looked right back, taking note of his appearance. His skin was golden, like he spent hours in the sun, and he wore flip-flops and cargo shorts and an orange Camp Half-Blood t-shirt, all underneath a doctor's coat. It was typical Will, but the coat was certainly new.

“What are you doing here?” I demanded. “Is Nico here, too?”

Will smiled guiltily. “I’m the camp’s doctor. Nico’s around here somewhere, probably teaching a sword lesson or something.” He stared pointedly at the blood running down my cheek from the wound on my head. “It seems you have the same penchant for injuries and trouble that Percy did," he said dryly.

I decided not to press for further details. Will was someone I trusted, so I knew that he didn’t mean me any harm. "So I've been told," I sighed. "But I feel fine."

"I'm sure you do," Will said, gesturing for me to take a seat on one of the beds. "But let's double check, shall we?"

Will shined a light in my eyes, checked my vitals, and put that weird tape over the wound on my temple. He gave me a clean bill of health; I didn't even have a minor concussion.

"It's just a superficial wound," he reassured. "You'll be fine, but if you start to feel nauseous or your headache gets worse, come back to me and we'll figure it out."

"Thanks," I said, hopping up. “How long have you been working here?”

“A long time,” he said vaguely. “This is the camp that Nico told you about. Percy used to come here every summer, too.”

“So . . . Percy was involved with gods and goddesses,” I said slowly. “And monsters.”

“Yeah,” Will confirmed. “We all are. Me, Nico, Annabeth, Piper, Leo—pretty much everyone you’ve ever met that is a friend of Percy’s is involved.”

“How come no one ever told me?” I demanded.

“They did,” Will pointed out. “I know for a fact Annabeth used to tell you these stories.”

“No one told me they were actually _real_ ,” I said hysterically.

“We never said they weren’t, though,” Will replied calmly. “Look, Lex, I’m really not the best person to be telling you this. I promise all your questions will be answered.”

Blaise and Remi returned then, a smaller girl trailing behind them carrying a pair of sneakers. She was shorter than me, probably even under five feet, with light brown hair that fell down her back and a pair of dark glasses that were perched on her pointed nose. Her eyes were green, but unlike Percy's eyes they were green in a way that moss or grass is green. Her bright orange camp shirt was ruffled and singed, as were her jeans, like she had just run through a burning building. She must have been tense, because she visibly deflated and let out a sigh when she laid eyes on me.

"Good grief, I don't even know you and you gave me a heart attack," the girl whined in a southern drawl. "I thought for certain you were a goner."

"Thanks," I said dryly. "Really, your confidence in me is astounding."

"I get that a lot," she replied. "Anyway, I'm Kenzie, so we're not strangers anymore. It's nice to meet you, Lex, but please try not to cause a panic next time we meet." She grinned and we shook hands. "Anyway, I just came by to see if you were okay and give you these." She held up the shoes, and it was then that I remembered I was still barefoot. "I'm heading back to the rock climbing wall now. See ya around!" With that, Kenzie departed, leaving me along with my friends and Will once more.

"Everything okay?" Blaise asked after Kenzie's departure.

Will nodded. "She's good to go. Make sure you take her to Chiron first. He’ll want to know what happened."

Blaise and Remi led me to another room of the Big House, which was set up more like an office. A man in a tweed coat with brown hair sat behind the desk, and he had eyes that revealed of a millennia of knowledge.

"Well, hello there," he greeted kindly.

Blaise cleared her throat. "Lex, this is Chiron," she said. "He runs the camp."

"Nice to meet you," I said politely.

"You as well, Lex," Chiron said warmly. "Percy used to tell me all about you. You're much bigger now than you were at two, though," he chuckled.

I smiled hesitantly. "That's what happens when you grow up, I guess."

"Indeed," he said. "Why don't the three of you take a seat?"

Remi, Blaise, and I sat in the chairs in front of the desk. Blaise immediately began to talk, mentioning James and the car accident, and Remi filled in where he could. Finally, all eyes were on me, expecting my side of the story.

"I'm not sure what's going on," I admitted. "But I had this weird dream the other night, after I overheard Blaise talking to my mom, and that's pretty much where all the trouble started."

Chiron and Remi exchanged a look, and that look seemed to hold an entire conversation.

Blaise glanced at me guiltily. "How much did you hear?" she asked.

"Enough," I said shortly. "You said I was involved in a prophecy, and said something about Cass, whoever that is, and a pithos?"

Chiron and Remi turned a skeptical eye on Blaise, and she cringed. "Whoops?"

Remi rolled his eyes. "It's a long story," he told me. "But you're hardly involved."

"Seriously? I'm hardly involved? I was kidnapped. That seems pretty _involved_ to me."

Chiron nodded. "I won't lie to you, Lex. Your arrival has been . . . anticipated for quite some time now. How much do you know about Greek mythology?"

"A little bit," I said. "Annabeth, Nico, and my mom used to tell me stories about Percy and the gods, and I have Percy’s writings."

"So you know of the Oracle of Delphi?"

"Yeah," I confirmed. "She's a girl named Rachel who randomly spouts prophecies in green mist or something outlandish like that."

Chiron chuckled. "She does," he agreed. "And she gave us one a few weeks ago that everyone believes to involve you."

I blinked stupidly at him. "But I'm not a demigod. I'm mortal."

"Exactly," Chiron said. "A mortal who can see through the Mist, which is exactly what the prophecy calls for."

I suddenly felt very uncomfortable. "What is the prophecy?"

Chiron shook his head. "It’s nothing to be immediately concerned about," he said. "For now, Blaise will take you on a tour of the camp and show you where you will be staying tonight, and then she'll take you to dinner. Remi, I need to speak with you alone."

Blaise stood and gestured for me to do the same. I did, but I didn't move any farther. "I need to call my mom," I said. "She's probably worried."

"We'll get to that," Blaise said, tugging on my arm. "Come on. We can come back later."

I followed her out of the room, leaving with more questions than I'd come with.

* * *

 

Blaise gave me a short tour around the camp. She showed me all the cabins, some that were old, and many that were new. We passed by the rock climbing wall with lava flowing down the sides, walked down by the lake, and by the amphitheater.

"This is great and all," I said impatiently. "But I need to call my mom."

"Okay," she said. "But I suggest you not use your phone right now. Demigods don't use them 'cause they're like a homing beacon for monsters, and since you're in Camp, I don't know how that would affect everything even if you're mortal."

"How do I call my mom, then?"

"Leave it to me."

We stopped in front of a cabin with rainbows painted all over it. I remembered she said it was the cabin for Iris, goddess of the rainbow.

Blaise marched right up to the door and knocked. A small little girl answered, smiling at us with a face full of braces. "Hey, Gabby," Blaise said. "My friend here needs a rainbow. Got a prism?"

"Sure!" Gabby disappeared for a moment, and when she reappeared, she had a prism that you might see in a science class in her hand.

"Thanks, I'll only be a moment," Blaise said as she accepted the small object, coming back over to me. She fished around in her pocket, and came up with a coin. "This is a drachma," she explained as she handed the gold coin over to me. "Demigods don't use phones often, so we usually Iris Message. You make an offering to Iris, and she delivers your message."

"Cool," I said slowly. "How does it work?"

Blaise held up the prism, casting a small rainbow in the setting sun. She tossed the drachma into the rainbow. "Oh Iris, goddess of the Rainbow," she said. "Please accept my offering. Show me Sally Blofis."

The rainbow shifted until I saw an image of my mom and dad, both pacing around the ruined kitchen at Montauk and mumbling in hushed voices to each other.

"Mom? Dad?" I said, my voice shaky. I was overcome with the urge to cry from all the weird things that had happened to me that day, and I wanted nothing more than to hug them both and be told that everything would be okay.

They both turned around, relief evident on their faces as they approached. "I'm so glad you're okay!" my mom cried. "I received a call from Chiron and he told me you were in trouble, and I assumed the worst—"

"I'm okay, Mom," I said, but even I wasn't sure I believed myself. "Just a little confused, is all."

"I'm sure you are," she agreed. "I'm sorry, Lexi. You were never supposed to be involved in this, Percy never would have wanted—"

"I know," I said. "But Mom, I think I can help find him."

She shook her head. "Leave the questing and rescuing to the others, Lexi," she begged. "I know you can see through the Mist—but you're mortal. You can't fight like they can, and people won't go easy on you because of that." She stared pointedly at my ruffled, sandy appearance, and at the bandage on my head.

"I know," I said again, and my eyes stung as tears gathered there. "I don't want you to be sad anymore, Mom. If I can help them find Percy, then I'm going to."

The image flickered, and Blaise warned, "The connection will time out in a moment."

"I'll be careful," I promised. "And I'll bring him home if I can."

My mom nodded. "I know there's no talking you out of something once you've made up your mind," she said with a small smile. "Percy was exactly the same way. Just be careful, honey." She looked to Blaise, who was apparently still within view. "Keep an eye on her, Blaise. She's not like you."

"Of course," Blaise said solemnly.

"Love you," I said, biting my bottom lip to keep from crying like a dumb little kid separated from their parents on the first day of kindergarten.

"We love you, too," my dad said. "Be careful."

Blaise swiped through the rainbow with her hand, and without a word, returned the prism to Gabby. "Come on," she said. "There's still someone we need to see before we go to get dinner."

* * *

Blaise led me to a cabin that was low, long, and solid in appearance, with all windows facing the sea. The outer walls were a cool gray tone, with seashells and coral within the stone. It looked almost like the bottom of the sea floor in Discovery Channel documentaries about sea life.

She led me up the porch steps and to the front door, where she gave three hard knocks. There was a moment of shuffling behind the door before it was thrown open.

A boy that looked almost exactly like old pictures of Percy stood before us. He had the same black hair, but instead of it being messy and straight, it was messy and curly, and even his eyes were the same shade of green. His skin was tanner, closer to olive-toned, and he was about the same height as Blaise, so he wasn't very tall for a guy. It didn't take me long to realize that he was the drowning boy from my dream the night before, and I struggled to keep my poker face in check and my panic concealed.

"Cass," Blaise greeted, grinning.

The boy, Cass, grinned right back. "Blaise."

Blaise slapped my back, hard. "Cass, this is Lex. Lex, this is Cass."

"Oh, _you're_ Lex!" Cass immediately intercepted the hand I had slowly started to offer and shook it vigorously. "I'm Cassius Coyoy. It's _so_ nice to finally meet you! Blaise has told me so much—"

"Shut up," Blaise interrupted. Looking at me, she added, "I only tell him bad things, of course."

I snorted. "Of course," I said. Then hesitantly to Cass, "It's nice to meet you, too." I thought it'd be inappropriate to tack on that I'd dreamed of him drowning, so I decided not to bring that up.

"Is it true you do gymnastics? I always wanted to try that, but my family never really had the money for it. Can you teach me how to do a back flip?"

I blinked at him, confused. "Uh, sure?"

"Excellent!" Cass grinned, and then stood aside. "Come in, come in!"

Blaise and I entered the cabin, which was even prettier on the inside. The walls glowed slightly like fluorescent algae, and six bunks lined those walls. At the center was a fountain made of different metals, like it had been patched up many times before.

"Is this the Poseidon Cabin?" I asked.

"It is," Cass chirped. "That'd be my dad."

I stared at Cass, suddenly worried. For a brief moment, I wondered if Percy would ditch our family as soon as he got back upon realizing he had a demigod sibling, capable of sword-fighting with him and going on fantastic quests, rather than with a sister who could see through the Mist and a brother who couldn't see anything at all and were mortal.

I pushed the thought away quickly. "That's cool," I said instead, but I didn't sound genuine even to my own ears.

Cass nodded, either not noticing my tone or being too polite to say anything about it. "Yeah," he agreed with a small smile. I noticed that he smiled quite a bit, and I wondered if that was something that all Poseidon kids had in common. "Anyway, I should probably show you to your bed."

"My bed?" I repeated, confused as I looked between him and Blaise.

Blaise nodded. "Chiron wanted to put you up in the Big House since you're mortal, or have you stay with Rachel, our Oracle, but Remi and I might have convinced him Percy would want you to be wherever he would have been."

"Oh," I murmured, my eyes suddenly stinging. "Percy used to live here?"

Cass shrugged. "As far as I know, yeah," he said. "I wasn't here when he was, obviously. I didn't get here myself until I was ten."

I nodded slowly. "Thanks for letting me stay here with you, Cass."

Cass' dazzling smile remained in place, and he patted my shoulder like we were old friends rather than strangers that had just met. "Anytime," he said warmly. "Maybe you're not my sister, but you're Percy's, so you're close enough. I always wanted a sister, anyway."

I found myself grinning. Maybe I would come to like Camp Half-Blood after all.

* * *

 

Cass showed me my bunk, which had blankets and sheets already on it, and a pile of clothes sat on the trunk at the end of the bed. Blaise explained that Kenzie had just taken a bunch of things from the camp store for me to use, like clothes and other toiletries.

I wasn't sure if she meant taken in a literal or figurative sense, but I had learned long ago it was better not to ask Blaise about those kinds of things for fear of being implicated in her schemes.

I was finally able to shower, though, which I was eternally grateful for. With salt and sand all over me, I looked like a washed up mermaid, but without the glamor and shining hair. It was nice to wash away the remaining traces of my encounter with James and Kelli.

We went to dinner next, which took place at a pavilion with a bunch of picnic tables and a fire at the center of it all.

"Once you get your food, you scrape a little into the fire as a sacrifice to the gods," Cass was explaining. "For example, mine is usually to my dad."

I nodded. "So, who should mine be to?"

Cass shrugged. "Whoever you want."

I gathered food on my plate, and when Blaise and Cass had both gone, it was my turn to sacrifice a portion of food. I scraped off some of the garlic bread, which was hard for me to do because I love garlic bread. Catching a whiff of the smoke was heavenly; it smelled of home, like a combination of my mom's cookies and the theater that I practically lived in during the school year.

 _So, Poseidon,_ I thought. _Since you're real, I could really use your guidance, especially if I'm going to find Percy and make sure Cass doesn't drown. I want to keep them safe as much as you do, so . . . yeah. Any help you can give would be greatly appreciated._

"Thanks," I finished in a whisper, following after Cass and Blaise.

We sat at a table by ourselves, and even though Remi was quick to join us when he entered, it was just the four of us. In fact, looking around, I found that people were giving us odd stares. I hunched my shoulders, disliking the feeling of being watched.

"Why is everyone looking at us like that?" I asked quietly.

Cass shrugged. "The three of us are kind of the camp freaks."

"What? Why?"

They exchanged a glance, sharing an entire conversation in one look like Chiron and Remi had done earlier.

"To make a long story short," Blaise said, "My mom is Aletheia, the goddess of truth."

"Oh, yeah," I remembered. "James told me."

Blaise sneered. "James is a bastard," she hissed. "So whatever else he told you, don't believe it."

"That's a conversation for later, Blaise," Cass chided calmly. "Keep going."

"Right. Anyway, demigods usually have abilities based on their godly parent's, and mine is that I can get the truth out of almost anyone. People think it's freaky that I could know any of their secrets simply by asking them, so they tend to avoid me."

"I've never felt compelled to tell you the truth before, though," I said.

"You're also not a liar, Lex," Blaise pointed out. "You tend tell the truth regardless of how much trouble it could get you in."

"I guess," I relented. These days, I felt like I had turned to lying far more often, or at least to not revealing the truth. I pushed my thoughts away and turned to Remi. "So, what's your story?"

"My mom is Eris, goddess of discord and chaos," he said with a wicked grin that didn't quite reach his eyes. "Bad things tend to happen around me, like that kid who fell down the stairs while walking beside me earlier this semester, remember? Or at my first high school homecoming dance when there was a power outage and the whole thing was called off at, like, eight. I kind of just make things happen, y'know?"

"I hadn't realized, actually," I admitted, but now that I thought about it, it did make total sense. Wherever Remi went, weird things tended to happen. I then looked to Cass. "What about you?"

"My life story isn't something I'm exactly eager to tell someone I just met an hour ago," he said wryly. "Maybe another time."

If Cass wasn't comfortable, then I certainly wasn't going to pry for details. "Okay," I said. "So if you're the pariahs of Camp, why didn't Kenzie seem all that bothered by you, Blaise?"

"She's the head counselor of the Hermes Cabin, which is where I stay," Blaise said. "Since Aletheia can't exactly have her own cabin for this party of one."

"Oh," I murmured.

"Yeah," she hummed, but didn't seem at all bothered by it. "Besides, Kenzie may not seem like it, but I guess she's pretty cool for being the kid of the main twelve gods. Even though there was, like, a whole war just to make sure the minor gods were recognized, some of the kids of the original twelve are all snooty about it. Kenzie's not, but I guess that comes with the territory of being the waterfall cabin."

"Waterfall cabin?"

"They're the cabin that gets the leftovers," Remi explained. "There's about thirty cabins, and they're for gods, not spirits. If you don't fit into any of them, you get placed with the god of travelers, which is Hermes."

"Hence, Kenzie is cool in our book," Blaise concluded. "Just don't piss her off. Hermes counselors have a penchant for horrendous pranks, and Kenzie holds too much rage in her tiny body. She's made Ares' kids cry, and that's damn near impossible."

I thought back to the small southern girl with singed clothing and couldn't quite believe what the people in front of me were saying. "You're kidding."

"Nope," Remi cackled. "Hermes is also god of thieves, so she'll break into your cabin with zero regrets and do what is necessary to get even, and _then some_. She's also, like, best friends with the head counselor of the Athena Cabin, and he's good at strategy, so if they really tried I'm 99% sure they could take over the world together with their combined cunning."

"Huh," I hummed uneasily. 

We went back to eating, but I still felt the stares of many eyes on my back. I looked around again, and several people quickly looked away from my searching gaze. "So . . . if they're weirded out by you guys, why are they gawking at me, too?"

The three of them exchanged glances again, as if debating on how much information they could reveal to me before they said something they weren't supposed to.

"We're not supposed to say anything," Blaise muttered, lowering her voice and leaning in. "But Chiron is going to tell you either tonight or tomorrow anyway, so you might as well know. No mortal other than the Oracle has ever stayed at Camp without something bad happening."

"Like what?" I demanded.

Cass shushed me loudly. "We can't tell you. Chiron will tell you everything eventually."

"That sounds kind of sketchy," I said bluntly.

Blaise shrugged. "It's the most we can really tell you right now," she admitted. "Listen, I know this is all new and confusing, but it'll make sense. Just give it time."

Part of me itched for more details, but the other part knew better than to ask for answers from people who were obviously dead-set against revealing them.

We quickly finished our meal, and afterwards, Cass and Blaise insisted I tag along to some kind of campfire sing-a-long. It was fun, and even though we were still on the receiving end of stares and whispered words, it was hard to notice them with Cass being so welcoming and Blaise and Remi being, well, Blaise and Remi.

Afterwards, when kids began to wander off to their cabins, Cass slung an arm around my shoulders. "It looks like Chiron isn't going to have that talk with you tonight," he said.

"Tomorrow, then," Blaise hummed. "And since you lost some brain cells in the car accident, you might wanna get some sleep. There are going to be a lot of people eager to talk to you tomorrow."

"First of all, rude," I said, glaring viciously. "Second of all, you right."

Cass laughed loudly. "Let's go."

* * *

 

Blaise and Remi walked part way back with us before veering off to their own cabin with a wave. Cass and I readied for bed in amicable silence, but once we had settled into our bunks and the lights were out, we talked for what felt like hours.

Cass told me about his mortal family, including his immigrant Guatemalan mother, who he gushed about being absolutely gorgeous. "She's the best cook, and she sings better than anyone I've ever heard," he sighed. "She came here to study marine biology. She met Poseidon while on some research project in Florida."

"She sounds lovely," I murmured, smiling into the dark. "Do you have any siblings?"

Cass then went into a long tirade about his little brothers and how big of a pain they were, but he was obviously very fond of them. I told him all about my mom and dad and Izzy, and after that, I'm not even sure what we talked about. I forgot all about my dream of him drowning as we moved from topic to topic, and any unease I had earlier had completely faded.

We whispered and laughed into the late hours of the night, and I fell asleep with a smile on my face for the first time in a long while.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It is 11:35PM as I'm posting this, but I made it before Monday so this is still within the promised two weeks! This is a little rough because it is un-edited, but I wanted to get this out in time, so I apologize for the mistakes. I'll go back and fix where I see them.
> 
> Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoyed!


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